Coordinating services in creative ways: Damiano Center helps people help themselves

Food and Nutrition, Fall-Winter, 1989 by Mary Jane Getlinger

Coordinating Services In Creative Ways

From the "Land of Sky blue Waters"--Minnesota--comes a model of a successful public-private partnership working toward a common goal of food self-sufficiency. Damiano Center is located in Duluth, Minnesota, and forms a network with four nonprofit agencies which address the problems of hunger in Duluth.

Founded in 1982, Damiano Center is a private, not-for-profit corporation that provides networks with other private, nonprofit agencies to help poor people who need food, shelter, or clothing.

"Our goal is to create a coalition of agencies working to provide low-income people with ways to help themselves,c says Jim Dwyer, program coordinator for Damiano Center

Although non-denominational, Damiano Center is based on the ideals of the San Damiano monastery, where St. Francis of Assissi received his calling to go to work among the poor. The center is housed in an old Catholic grade school building owned by the Catholic Diocese of Duluth. The Diocese allows Damiano Center to use the building rent free.

Duluth (population 84,000) stretches 23 miles along a mountain bordering Lake Superior. The city's primary products relate to its resources and its position on Lake Superior.

Across the St. Louis River lies Duluth's sistern city, Superior, Wisconsin (population 32,000). Much flatter than her sister, Superior has many of the railyards which serve the region, and is a trucking center for foodstuffs. Together the two cities are a major port where ores, grain, and other bulk cargoes are shipped throughout the world.

Years ago, the livelihood of the northland people was tied to the land's resources--mining, logging, and fishing. Although these industries still remain strong, the focus has shifted.

Today there are more than 18,000 low-income households--roughly 41,000 people--in St. Louis, Lake, Cook, Koochiching, Itasca, and Carlton counties in Minnesota who use the services offered by the center and its coalition agencies. An additional 3,200 low-income households, or about 8,000 people from Douglas, Ashland, Iron, Price, and Bayfield counties in Wisconsin, also take advantage of coalition services.

"Damiano Center is based on the belief that the best hope for eliminating hunger is in actively working with people, enabling them to provide food of themselves," says Jim Dwyer's brother, Paul, who coordinates food stamp outreach and the Temporary Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) at the center.

"Once their basic food needs are met, we try to create opportunities for low-income people to learn to be more self-reliant."

Help with food,

clothes, jobs

Damiano Center's soup kitchen, clothing exchange, and Handy Hands jobs program provide immediate assistance. "If someone needs a meal or clothing, our volunteers will assist--immediately," says Jim Dwyer.

Soup kitchen coordinator Jean Gornick says the kitchen has plenty of volunteers. Many churches in the area provide cooking staff--a head cook and 6 to 10 helpers 1 day each month. Grade schools, confirmation classes, Outward Bound groups, and other service organizations also volunteer.

Last year the kitchen served nearly 53,000 meals on a budget of $77,000. The kitchen serves all-you-want-to-eat meals at 11:30 a.m., 5 days a week. Two paid workers manage the kitchen, set up the menus after surveying the foods available that day, and arrange for volunteers to do the cooking.

The Handy Hands jobs program offers the community a day labor service and gives people eager to work opportunities to make some money. The program offers jobs such as painting, unloading trucks, distributing and harvesting food, and cleaning.

"Handy Hands teaches the importance of showing up for work," says Jim Dwyer. "It gives people some pocket money for the bus fares or food on the days the kitchen does not operate. If workers prove to be reliable, Handy Hands will push for full-time employment and provide needed references."

The center also has donated clothing available for those who need it. "We distributed 100,839 clothing items last year to 16,500 people," says part-time clothing exchange coordinator Clare Ritchie.

Money comes from

public, private sources

Damiano Center's $225,000 budget is funded 40 percent from private donations, 30 percent from private foundations, and 20 percent from other agency sources. The remaining 10 percent comes from federal sources, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Housing and Urban Development community block grants, and USDA's Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) food assistance programs.

"Although our center receives only 10 percent funding from governmental agencies," says Jim Dwyer, "our interaction with government programs is even greater because we assist people using the center in applying for and receiving federal aid."

The Damiano Center has been responsible for distributing USDA-donated foods through TEFAP (the Temporary Emergency Food Assistance Program) in Duluth since 1983. Since that time Damiano has set up 83 distribution sites in Duluth to allow easy access at a minimal cost for the elderly.