Who does the Winona Catholic Worker serve?

Bethany House serves single homeless men, offering shelter to about 3-4 overnight guests at a time along with a handful of additional guests who drop by daily for food or to wash clothing and shower. “The road to Bethany House for each of our guests is a story in itself, but each one’s life journey found them homeless in Winona,” Jim Allaire wrote in our newsletter shortly after it opened. “One man was robbed by the ride he hitched on his way here to find work. Two were passing through, one on his way to the Mayo Clinic for eye surgery. Some men came to us from situations locally they had to leave.” Most of the guests at Bethany House work all day, or spend their time looking for work. Some are just passing through. Alcoholism is common among our guests, although we have relatively few problems with substance abuse; guests who are known to be abusing are asked to leave for the sake of others living at the house.

In general, the men who stay with us are responsible, conversational, and easy to get along with. They like to talk while doing the dishes or smoking on the porch, often trading stories. They often help each other out, and sometimes take on special roles in the house—keeping up the garden, walking the dog, or welcoming new guys to the dinner table, for instance.

The Dan Corcoran House serves single women, couples, and their children. Because children share a room with their parent(s), it can accommodate as many as thirteen guests at a time; but three to six guests is more typical. The women and families who stay at the Dan Corcoran House come there for a multitude of reasons. Many are escaping substandard housing elsewhere. Some are leaving marriages (although women fleeing violent abuse are referred to local safe houses). Some are afflicted by a mental illness or developmental disability. Other families were living in poverty for a long time when they became homeless because of major expenses or the loss of a job.