This month is an important anniversary for people who work with the homeless in the Quad Cities. Friday Humility of Mary Housing celebrated taking over the John Lewis Shelter ten years ago when it was on the verge of closing.
Director of Development John DeTaeye says the major partners in helping the order of nuns take over were the city of Davenport, United Way, and Genesis Health System.
"They absolutely knew they could not have a break in services. And the most likely group with not only the program credibility but also just historic roots in the community - lots of people knew the Congregation of the Humility of Mary was going to be a reliable partner."
The partners also thought Humility of Mary was qualified to administer about one million dollars in federal grants given to John Lewis.
And he thinks it was a real test of faith for the sisters to take over the shelter program in 2008, during the financial crisis. But they'd been working with homeless families for 18 years during Humility's transitional housing program, and had a lot of experience with homeless local residents.
In addition to the ten year anniversary, Humility on Friday celebrated the merging of its two operations - the homeless shelter and the transitional housing program. DeTaeye says that will allow the organization to do a better job of meeting the needs of the community.
