Grant monies fund Cathedral Square Program
St. Vincent de Paul Society uses $10,000 grant to provide more shelter for downtown homeless

The Cathedral St. Vincent de Paul Society has received a grant of $10,000 from the “Opportunity Fund of the Sacramento Region Community Foundation.” The grant money, which has already been sent to the Cathedral Parish Office, will be used by the St. Vincent de Paul Society to provide shelter for homeless people in the downtown area.

The St. Vincent de Paul Society is the sponsor of the Cathedral Square Program, which has already been providing housing each night to five homeless people in the downtown area. Two other agencies—Sacramento Self Help Housing and the Downtown Partnership Navigator Program—work in cooperation with the St. Vincent de Paul Society in this program as people are contacted on the street and assisted on each step of the way towards a normal home and a regular job. Funding comes from the Sisters of Mercy, the Pyramid Brewery, the California Association of Counties, and Carson Construction. Since the program began in December at least seven people have found work and become self-sufficient.

This new grant from the Region Community Foundation will enable the Cathedral Square Program to increase the number of homeless being helped from five to as many as ten per night while the money lasts. The cost of housing a homeless person is $525 per person per month.