Ohio State Center Wiki: Desales Parish Center And Home Program History

Desales Crossing Parish Center and H.O.M.E. Program History

Cincinnati, Ohio > Purcell Marian High School Wiki > Desales Crossings Marianist Community Wiki

How did this all begin?

During the spring of 1996, Bro. Larry Corbin, Fr. Ed Jach, and Sr. Carol Wenning, began to discuss ways to try to work at some of the issues of poverty and injustice in the Walnut Hills neighborhood. The stimulus for this conversation was an earlier effort by the Cincinnati Marianist Provincial Administration to create a new project directed at these same issues. This initial discussion generated further dialogue between Bros. Larry Corbin, Giancarlo Bonutti and Frs. Ed Jach and Daniel Winters, Marianists from the St. Francis [DeSales]Create? Community in Cincinnati. Mr. Gibbs [MacVeigh]Create?, who has had a long association with the parish and the Marianists, was added to the conversation to help with planning and visioning a future. Over the next year, Sisters of Mercy from the H.O.M.E. Program and Mercy Connections, and the principal Purcell Marian High School were invited into the group. The conversations focused on ways to have a positive and synergistic impact on the Walnut Hills and East Walnut Hills areas of Cincinnati. Issues of concern were the poverty of many families in the area, lack of education, needs of the elderly, bridging racial gaps, etc. These social concerns flow naturally from the charisms of the Marianists and the Sisters of Mercy.

Over the next year, other interested Catholic groups in the area were invited to planning sessions and neighborhood meetings were held to listen to the concerns and issues of the people. By January 1998, the members had taken the title [DeSales]Create? Crossings and the present day 9 partners pledged a commitment to work collaboratively toward the vision of [DeSales]Create? Crossings.

Over the last 2 years, the organizing committee has spent most of the time trying to develop concrete plans to make the vision a reality. An ice cream social was held in the summer of 1998 to bring together neighborhood people and the membership of [DeSales]Create? Crossings. In the fall of that year adults from [DeSales]Create? Crossings joined students from Purcell Marian and and St. Ursula High Schools in a neighborhood clean up on Saturday morning. This was followed by a cookout in the Purcell Parking lot. Purcell Marian students and the H.O.M.E. program worked together to carry out intergenerational activities that brought together students and seniors from the San Marco Apartment building. Resources have been shared between the partners. For example:

a counselor from Mercy Professional Services councils clients at Mercy Connections once a week
volunteer students from Purcell Marian tutor and assist younger students at St. Francis [DeSales]Create? Grade Schools and Mercy Connections
referrals for food, and emergency assistance are frequently made between H.O.M.E., St. Francis [DeSales]Create? Parish, and Mercy Connections
several partners participate in the 06 Alliance

The most exciting and challenging collaborative effort is the building of a parish center on the property of St. Francis [DeSales]Create?. It is due to be completed in December 29, 2001. The H.O.M.E. program will occupy the lower floor, the grade school the first floor, and Mercy Connections the second floor. Purcell Marian is building an addition to the school due for completion around the same time. The high school and the grade school will be sharing facilities for a number of activities. All partners in [DeSales]Create? Crossings will be able to use the new center for a variety of activities.

From Cincinnati, Ohio

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New Orleans has not been hit directly by a hurricane since 1965 when Hurricane Betsy blew in, flooding the city and killing about 75 people.

Source: Louisiana State Center