Mother Teresa Shelter gave refuge to homeless through hurricane

Catholic Charities Mother Teresa Shelter, in coordination with the Diocese of Corpus Christi, became a day and night shelter, receiving 27 area homeless people who sought refuge from the storm caused by Hurricane Hanna throughout the weekend of July 24-27. 

With the help of many in the community, the Mother Teresa Shelter was able to provide food and drink, sleeping bags and a safe environment for the 27 who walked through their doors. 

Mother Teresa Shelter is a day shelter and is usually opened throughout the week. Many of the overnight shelters in Corpus Christi were full or closed to new occupants due to COVID-19 precautions.

During the emergency management meetings last week, Warren Phipps, executive director of Catholic Charities and Mother Teresa Shelter, learned that temporary shelters being established by the Red Cross and the City would only be open post-storm. “We are called by our faith and mission to do what we can with the resources we have,” he said.  

“We wish we could have assisted many more, but we are extremely grateful to provide refuge to the 27 individuals from the storm. I hope these efforts will inspire others to join the effort as the next storm approaches, in event there is no evacuation ordered,” Phipps said.

“We are especially grateful: to the St. Thomas More Parish who were willing to brave the elements and commit to helping feed those at the shelter and many others on Saturday and Sunday; to Blimpies’ on Shoreline for providing a 3’ subs on Saturday; to several donations of hygiene items and several sleeping bags and one veteran who after seeing the news wants to join the MTS volunteers; also, to Jaime Reyna (director of Social Ministry for the diocese) for helping us believe in what is possible and assisting with the warehouse setup.”

According to Phipps, all of the individuals were very appreciative of the shelter and compliant with their COVID-19 risk control measures, i.e., social distancing and masks. The MTS staff who volunteered for overtime did exceptionally well. 

Today they will deep clean the warehouse and prepare to host the Coastal Bend Wellness Foundation who will administer 25 COVID-19 tests to the homeless on Tuesday. This initiative is part of a Salvation Army – Catholic Charities – City of Corpus to offer temporary shelter to 17 homeless men at the Salvation Army facility. “Among those who shelter with us over the weekend, I believe we have some strong candidates. MTS and Transitional House case managers will be interviewing the individuals who sheltered with us to query who is ready to commit to coming off the streets,” Phipps said. 

Phipps said there was an average of 20 -25 area homeless who sought shelter along the storefronts on Leopard between Tancahua and Sam Ramkin. While the numbers varied, 6-8 individuals weathered the storm in a tent and tarp at Central Catholic. There were approximately 15 individuals who sheltered on the outdoor covered basketball court at Ben Garza.

"We will do an internal after-action review to account for the costs and lessons learned. I hope others will join us in considering providing homeless shelter for those tropical storms/hurricanes when there are no evacuation assets mobilized.  One lesson that both Harvey and Hanna have reinforced is that hurricanes can more rapidly increase in intensity and shift points of landfall faster than we can react,” Phipps said.