GRAND JUNCTION — Well-heeled apartment seekers occasionally pull up to the pretty and nicely landscaped St. Benedict’s Place complex in downtown Grand Junction asking where the rental office is.
They are shocked to learn that there is no office and they can’t rent a unit — unless they are homeless.
Since 2008, the 23 St. Benedict’s apartments operated by Grand Valley Catholic Outreach have been filled with formerly homeless people. All residents have physical or mental disabilities.
The idea of providing the homeless with a nice place to live — not just a bed to sleep in — has worked to draw many of them back into society.
The renters at St. Benedict’s have formed a close-knit community. They comfort and care for those among them who are dying of cancer. They share holiday meals with the lonely. They grow vegetables and donate them to the Catholic Outreach soup kitchen.
Now, Catholic Outreach is expanding on that concept with a second 16-unit housing complex for homeless veterans.
The stylish blond-brick and wood-trimmed St. Martin Place building in a rough part of downtown Grand Junction is set to open next month.
“People have the ‘support our troops’ tags on their vehicles, but most people don’t know how to do that,” said Sister Karen Bland, a Catholic nun and director of Catholic Outreach. “Here, we have a way to help.”
More than 385 individuals, businesses and churches did help by donating materials, labor or cash to help build the $1.5 million project.
“It’s very, very much needed. We have a lot of homeless vets coming in here looking for help,” said Korean Navy veteran Larry Baker, a member of Veterans of Foreign Wars post 1247 in Grand Junction.
The VFW pitched in $10,000 for the project that will allow veterans to move into single- person units furnished with everything from couches to pot holders. The veterans who move in also will have to help by paying 30 percent of their incomes in rent and by agreeing to a contract that requires them to keep their new units in tiptop condition. Their contracts also require them to volunteer in the community.
Volunteering is key to how the 41-year-old Catholic Outreach has become a powerhouse of aid in western Colorado. From a former Keebler cookie warehouse, Sister Karen and the nearly 5,000 volunteers and donors in her database, and the 18 denominations of churches that help out, have racked up some impressive numbers.
In just the past year, the organization has provided utility assistance for 650 households; financial aid for transportation and medications for 1,045 families; 77,831 meals served in the soup kitchen; rental assistance on 660 homes; and 48,166 services, including showers, laundry, storage, medical care and counseling at the Day Center.
Nancy Lofholm: 970-256-1957 or nlofholm@denverpost.com
Need help?
The Department of Veterans Affairs will hold a VA Information Day on Nov. 8 from 8 a.m. to noon. The event will be held in the Denver VA Medical Center auditorium, 1055 Clermont St.
The event is an opportunity for any veteran to find information about (and assistance applying for) any VA benefit he or she might be entitled to. The event will have high-level representatives and information on: health care eligibility and enrollment, a woman veterans program, jobs with the VA, mental- health services, compensation and pensions, homeless-veteran programs, a suicide-prevention program, the GI bill, VA home loans, survivor benefits, burial benefits and more.
Nursing staff will also be in attendance to provide flu shots and blood-pressure checks to eligible veterans.
For more information, visit or call 303-336-8262.
