To those who live there, the Delores Project shelter for women provides a safe environment, a warm bed and a hot shower. To those who are just visiting, it provides perspective.
If you’re stressing out over Christmas credit-card bills before you walk through the door, your worries will be halted after hearing some of the stories. Rosella Smith’s, for instance.
Smith, a recovering drug addict and the mother of eight children, says she owes her life to the Delores Project. Her new life, that is.
“I’d like to thank God for sending angels to rescue us in our personal crises,” Smith says. “I never imagined I’d be in this situation. This place is letting me fix me. It allows me the opportunity to rebuild my life, to put the pieces back together.
“Although I have a long way to go, I’d like to thank the Delores Project for having a place to start.”
The Delores Project, which has applied for funding through the Post-News Season to Share program, is one of only a handful of shelters for women in the Denver metro area. According to officials at the shelter, there are roughly 800 homeless women per night roaming the streets of the city. The number of beds available to those women? About 115.
“Most people, when they think of the homeless, think of men,” says Linda Kleiber, the shelter’s program coordinator. “It’s an invisible population. You don’t see them, but women are more vulnerable.”
It isn’t too difficult to imagine the problems of women on the streets, particularly the mentally ill. It’s a vicious cycle of victimization.
Many are in abusive relationships with homeless men, and some are forced into prostitution.
The Delores Project is all about ending vicious cycles. It’s about getting women back on their feet, back in the workplace, and back with their families.
How bad can it get for some of these women? Smith lived in abandoned houses or ones that were vacant and for sale before finding solace at the shelter.
“Sometimes the heat wasn’t on, sometimes there would be rats, a lot of drugs. … It was just like the bottom. It was like my whole life had fallen apart. If this place didn’t exist, I’d still be where I was before I came here. There would have been no way to get things started.”
As Smith tells her story, the smell of fresh paint hangs in the air. The Delores Project has existed since 1999, but never had a permanent facility until recently. The new place has 40 beds, with room for more in emergency situations, and eight showers – seven more than the previous one.
Unlike other shelters, which typically have a limit of a month or less, women can live here indefinitely. One has been here since June, another since October. The address? You won’t see that anywhere for fear of confrontation or violence involving men from past relationships.
This is where women come not just to live, but to heal. To ponder their pasts and plan their futures with a little help from, to use Smith’s word, angels.
Oh, and we almost forgot the personal touches. There are many, starting with the facility’s name. It was named after a homeless woman who bounced around from temporary facility to temporary facility, only to die on the streets. Then you have the quilts.
“They’re our trademark,” says Kleiber. “Everyone gets their own quilt. It’s kind of homey.”
Staff writer Jim Armstrong can be reached at 303-954-1269 or jmarmstrong@denverpost.com.
How to donate
Post-News Season to Share, a fund of the McCormick Tribune Foundation, gave more than $1.73 million to 56 agencies last year serving children and people who are hungry, homeless or in need of medical care. Donations are matched 50 cents to the dollar, and 100 percent of the donations go to the charitable agencies. To contribute, please see the coupon on this page, call 888-683-4483 or visit seasontoshare.com.
