What do women experiencing homelessness need most? This was a question posed by a group of women from Pasadena churches – the “Women’s Issue Committee” – in 2005. They spent many months researching the question, but didn’t let things rest there: they put their findings into practice by opening The Women’s Room at Friends In Deed on September 13, 2007.
The Women’s Room was supported through individual foundations, community organizations, the Women’s Council of All Saints Church, and tremendous amounts of volunteer labor. There are many names that should be mentioned as having been influential in the start of the project, but among them are Kitty Gault of the Pacific Clinics Passageways program, who gave invaluable advice; Joyce Turner, a nurse specializing in homelessness, whose story about a homeless women’s encampment with a tin can of flowers on a makeshift table probably inspired the TWR poppies motif, and who has volunteered at TWR ever since; and Jackie Knowles (former Pasadena Star-News editor and FID board member) and Monica Hubbard of All Saints Church, who were members of the “persisterhood” who worked together to get the project off the ground.
Initially The Women’s Room was open for only two afternoons a week, offering food, telephone and computer access, and a host of life-enriching activities to the one or two guests who turned up. But, by 2008, showers and laundry facilities had been added and the program was seeing as many as 15 guests a day.
Now, of course, we have added case management and referrals to the Street Outreach and Housing team for housing to the list of services we provide, and we can see more than 40 guests a day! In fact, TWR is bursting at the seams, and we look forward to its ongoing story as we continue to figure out how to best meet the needs of women experiencing homelessness in the Pasadena area.