To change one person’s life is no easy feat. But to change the lives of hundreds upon hundreds leaves an indelible mark left on a community.
David Brown and Michael Oliveri were both homeless for 25 and 15 years, respectively.
Brown began living on the streets at the age of 14.
“I never went to high school. I never learned how to read or write,” Brown said.
He has a third-grade reading level and a ninth-grade math level.
“I lived in Rittenhouse Square, which is one of the most affluent properties in the city,” Oliveri said. “But, I lived on a bench in the park.”
As much tragedy and hardship these two men faced on the streets, that was not the end of their story; it did not define them.
Both men were invited off the streets by a Sister of Mercy – Sister Mary Scullion.
Scullion is the co-founder, with Joan Dawson McConnon, of the nationally recognized organization Project Home.
Project Home works to aid low-income and homeless individuals. Together, they are working to break homelessness and poverty.
“Homelessness is up-close and personal and so real,” Scullion said.
Project Home offers its residents housing, employment, education and healthcare.
Both Brown and Oliveri are now employed by Project Home.
“At Project Home, our programs and services are based on best practices, implemented with professional effectiveness, so that we can meet the concrete and real complex needs of people seeking to break the cycle of homelessness and poverty,” Scullion said.
Encounters that changed lives
“I used to see Sister Mary in the park early in the morning,” Oliveri said. “But, I was so ashamed of me that I could never face her. I was ashamed to present myself in front of a nun.”
After seeking help from Safe haven shelters around Philadelphia, Oliveri was finally brought by a social worker to Sister Mary and Project Home in 2012.
“I hid from her,” Oliveri said. “But, you cannot hide from God.”
Oliveri has been a resident of Project Home for nearly five years.
Brown was also found by Project Home.
“We [others who were homeless] lived on the parkway. It’s a place called the Youth Study Center,” Brown said. “Right now, it’s a million-dollar museum called The Barnes Foundation. When I ride by it, I smile because that was my home for 25 years.”
Ed Speedling, a colleague of Project Home and a part of Cabrini’s Nerney Leadership Institute, found Brown on the streets and convinced him to visit Project Home.
“Now, I am proud to say that I am one of the fruits of Project Home. I am a living example,” Brown said. “If you give a homeless person these four things, they won’t be homeless from much longer: give them the ‘H’ – housing. You give them the ‘O’- opportunity. You give them the ‘M’- medical, and you give them the ‘E’- education they will be homeless no longer.”
Brown has been a resident of Project Home for six years.
Nerney Leadership Center Executive in Residence
On Oct. 24, Sister Mary Scullion was named as Cabrini’s 2017 Executive in Residence. This honor recognizes how her extraordinary work and leadership has impacted her community.
Scullion spent the day at Cabrini as part of the Executive in Residence program of the Nerney Leadership Institute.
The Nerney Leadership Institute vies to teach students “The value of self-awareness in forming their leadership style by exposing them to the stories of other successful individuals.”
Scullion’s movement has been a catalyst for change.
She delivered two presentations to the Cabrini community in which she talked about how everybody needs to use their voice to create equal opportunity for every American.
“Raising your voices, anyway you can figure out how to do, to create equal opportunity for every single American is really helping us all fulfill the American Dream,” Scullion said to the community.
Her message revolves around the revolution of tenderness.
“Today, more than ever, we need this revolution of tenderness. It may be a strange message given here at an institution of higher-learning, where we stress achievement, success and skills; however, I ask you to consider that our hearts are becoming hard,” Scullion said. “We are having a very difficult time even listening to one another. Our eyes can be blinded to the pain and suffering around us, and each and every one of us needs to create our own revolution of tenderness.”
She affirms that our society needs to be transformed, in order for homelessness and poverty to be eliminated.
“The real energy behind our progress towards ending homelessness in Philadelphia is that we stay grounded in the power of relationship and the spirit of community and family,” Scullion said.
The work Scullion has done has also affected the Cabrini community.
Cabrini faculty touched by visits to Project Home
“One of my first impressions of Project Home was that it was all about relationships and what the residents were able to do. They talked about their personal relationships and the relationships they have had with other people, which they were able to either connect them with Project Home or in essence saved or changed their lives,” Dr. Beverly Bryde, dean for the school of education, said.
“The solidarity comes from knowing and developing a relationship with people who are homeless,” Bryde said. “And, that’s what changed my life.”
It is because of Bryde’s experience with Project Home and Sister Mary Scullion that she went on to become even more locally involved.
Through a program called CHOC (Coordinated Homeless Outreach Center) Connect Bryde was connected to one of its residents.
“I developed a relationship with a person who was experiencing homelessness, and I believe together we just bonded,” Bryde said. “The reality is she not only affected me and my life but my family as well. It was relationship born out of a pulling together of humanity.”
Martha Ritter, an associate professor of education, was touched by Project Home through the Mission Academy, a program for faculty in which faculty, during breaks, assist at Project Home.
“There’s always that relationship; you always feel welcomed immediately,” Ritter said. “It just touches you. I try to take those moments of gratitude and moments of quiet in the day and kind of think about that commitment to be part of this revolution of tenderness.”
The revolution of tenderness that Ritter and Scullion mentioned, a phrase from a surprise TED Talk delivered by Pope Francis this spring, was the main message in Scullion’s second appearance, an informal evening discussion.
“Their vulnerability isn’t the end of the of the story,” Scullion, in an interview with Steve Highsmith at Cabrini University, said. “It’s the beginning.”
