News
A Friendly Hand for the Women of Oakland
by Jose Luis Aguirre of The Catholic Herald
Dolores Hernandez is the mother of three children. Her husband doesn't work because he is disabled and she does not have sufficient economic means to sustain her family.
Nevertheless, this Salvadoran woman isn't alone. At the "Visitation Center" in Oakland, a program run by the Society of St. Vincent de Paul of Alameda County, she has found the help necessary to be able to move her family forward.
Dolores found about the center five years ago while walking on San Pablo Avenue, in West Oakland, where she found the Center.
The Visitation Center receives an average of eighty visits per day from homeless or low-income women who need help for themselves and their children. There, they find laundry service, showers, distribution of clothing for themselves and their children under 12, counseling, childcare, access to computers, English classes, and other services.
According to the Sister Marion Bill, a Daughter of Charity and director of the Center, in recent years the number of Latina clients has increased, to the point that more than 60 percent of the women who seek help at the Center are Latina.
What has not increased is the number of bilingual volunteers who speak Spanish. Moreover, there is only one person at the Center who speaks Spanish. For this reason, the Center is calling out to Latina women who would like to offer their services as volunteers.
Dolores first came to the center as a client, and now she works as a babysitter, taking care of one of the volunteer's children. For her this is a great opportunity. "This is a very good place because they help us with diapers and milk for the babies. I've brought my youngest daughter here since she was five months old. Now she is five years old and I've learned to relate to the rest of the children."
Catherine Baldi, also a client of the Center, frequently goes together with her daughter Sofia. "This is a refuge for us. Here the children have a place to go and the Center gives us the support that every mother needs, besides helping by giving us the basics for our babies."
The Visitation Center also helps clients to access shelters for homeless women, drug and alcohol rehabilitation programs, health resources, information about employment and referrals for victims of domestic violence.
The Center opened its doors in 1991 as a daytime shelter for the most needy, in response to the increased numbers of women and children who live in poverty in Oakland.
Sister Marion remembers that during the first year of service, the Center received 10,707 visits from women and children; last year this figure increased to 21,498 clients.
The mission of the Visitation Center is to help clients to build a better life, in a Christian environment, with respect and dignity. At the same time that the Center offers services to care for the basic needs of the disadvantaged, it offers accompanying services for women to discover new opportunities and to improve their quality of life.
To achieve this objective each week there are Bible classes, individual counseling from a therapist from Catholic Charities of the East Bay and other services, such as health fairs, vaccination days sponsored by the nursing school at Samuel Merritt College and support from various agencies from the County of Alameda.
To register for the Center's services, women must present birth certificates for their children or a letter from the hospital where their child was born. Diapers and formula for babies under a year old are distributed two times per month; clothing for small children can be requested once a week.
Children also receive toys for their birthday or for special holidays, like Christmas. Last year 320 families received gifts and clothing during Christmas.
The Visitation Center is located at 2660 San Pablo Avenue in Oakland, and it operates Mondays through Thursdays from 9:30 in the morning until 3:00 in the afternoon.
If you would like to become a volunteer, please contact Sister Marion Bill at (510)444-3790.