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| OUR HISTORY |
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In the summer of 1982, two volunteers from St. John’s Episcopal Church in Glyndon – Helen Martien and Reverend Philip Roulette – approached Reverend Edward Stube of St. Paul the Apostle Church on Washington Boulevard with their vision for a soup kitchen in one of the poorest communities in Baltimore City and the nation, Washington Village/Pigtown. On September 27, 1982, Paul’s Place began serving soup and sandwiches twice a week.
Word spread quickly about this new soup kitchen, and within the first two years, volunteer cooks from all faiths began preparing casseroles off-site to serve at Paul’s Place. The Hot Lunch program soon expanded to seven days a week. Also during its first two years, Paul’s Place began offering a values-based Saturday morning program and summer camp for children in the community.
By the end of its fifth year of service to the community, Paul’s Place had established a Nurses’ Clinic to provide basic health screenings to homeless and uninsured community members and began distributing clothing and bags of food. Paul’s Place continued to add programs and serve more people in need until the mid-1990s when Paul’s Place became homeless.
For two years, Paul’s Place distributed bag lunches from a storefront on Washington Boulevard while its volunteer leaders raised the funds needed to purchase and renovate a new home on Ward Street. In 1996, Paul’s Place opened its Outreach Center at 1118 Ward Street and resumed the Hot Lunch program and its other programs. Three years later, the new wing of the Outreach Center opened and Paul’s Place began a strategic planning and community asset mapping process to determine Paul’s Place niche in the community and the direction of future programming.
After more than 20 years of service to the community, Paul’s Place now offers more than a dozen services and programs to low-income individuals and families in the Washington Village/Pigtown community. As we look to the future, Paul’s Place will continue to expand our program and to partner with other organizations in our community to improve the quality of life in Washington Village/Pigtown.
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1982
Two volunteers from St. John’s Episcopal Church in Glyndon – Helen Martien and the Reverend Philip Roulette – approached Reverend Edward Stube of St. Paul the Apostle Church on Washington Boulevard with their vision for a soup kitchen to serve members of one of the poorest communities in the City and the nation.
On September 27, 1982, Paul’s Place began serving soup and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches twice a week to the hungry in Washington Village/Pigtown.
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1982- 1984
Within two years, the Hot Lunch program had expanded to seven days a week and lunches were casseroles baked in the kitchens of churches and synagogues including Beth Am Synagogue, Church of the Good Shepherd in Ruxton, Church of the Redeemer in Ruxton, Immanuel Church in Sparks, St. David’s Church in Baltimore, St. James Church in Monkton, St. Peter’s Church in Ellicott City, and St. Thomas Church in Garrison.
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1984
Paul’s Place began programming for children with a values-based Saturday morning program called Kid’s Place. That summer, neighborhood children participated in summer camp at St. John’s Western Run Parish.
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1986
The Nurses’ Clinic was established. In its first year, the Clinic performed basic health screenings for 150 homeless and uninsured community members.
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1987
Paul’s Place began distributing clothing and expanded meal service to include breakfast seven days a week.
The Long-Range Planning Committee was established to set a strategic plan and long-term goals for Paul’s Place.
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1988
Paul’s Place began distributing bags of food to community members in need through the Super Pantry program.
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1989
The Hot Lunch program served nearly 68,000 meals six days a week. Paul’s Place was the second largest soup kitchen in Baltimore City.
Legal assistance, counseling, and referrals were offered on-site for the first time.
Paul’s Place offered food, showers, and a warm bed to the homeless men in Washington Village/Pigtown, with built-in “Murphy beds” in the balcony above the gym and showers in the locker room of the St. Paul the Apostle Church.
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1991
Paul’s Place, in partnership with the Middendorf Foundation, founded Open Gates Health Clinic as an off-shoot of our Nurses’ Clinic.
Super Pantry classes taught women to shop economically and to plan and cook nutritious meals for their families.
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1993
New programs for children were added – mentoring for high-risk children in grades 1- 5 and a special day program at Christmas.
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1994
Paul’s Place moved from St. Paul the Apostle Church to a storefront at 847 Washington Boulevard and reduced meal service to bag lunches.
The mentoring program for high-risk children, still in operation at St. Paul the Apostle Church, became the After-Three program through a partnership with the Johns Hopkins University Graduate School.
Venable, Baetjer & Howard taught budgeting and job skills classes for people accessing Paul’s Place services.
Paul’s Place purchased property on Ward Street and began raising money and planning for renovations.
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1995
The Building Committee selected architects for the construction of our new Outreach Center. With drawings in hand, William Donald Schaefer convinced Whiting-Turner Contracting Company to complete construction at cost.
Construction at 1118 Ward Street began.
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1995
The Building Committee selected architects for the construction of our new Outreach Center. With drawings in hand, William Donald Schaefer convinced Whiting-Turner Contracting Company to complete construction at cost.
Construction at 1118 Ward Street began.
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1996
Paul’s Place moved from the storefront on Washington Boulevard to the new Outreach Center at 1118 Ward Street in October. The grand opening was celebrated in November.
Harold Graul outfitted kitchen with state-of-the-art equipment.
The Hot Lunch program, clothing distribution, and Nurses’ Clinic resumed.
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1997
New programs were added – job training, literacy, Narcotics Anonymous, and a Women’s Support Group.
Three buildings on Ward Street were demolished in preparation for construction of the new wing of our Outreach Center.
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1998
A second week of summer camp for neighborhood children was added in partnership with Church of the Redeemer.
Plans for the addition to our Outreach Center were finalized.
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1999
Summer Outings and Camps for Kids expanded to eight weeks, and our first Coordinator of Children’s Program was hired.
The Ambassador Program, a rewards-based community volunteer program for underemployed and unemployable adults, was established.
Paul’s Place began offering showers and laundry services to community members.
The new wing of the Outreach Center opened.
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2000
Ambassador volunteers worked approximately 1,000 hours per month, collectively.
Children in the After-Three program went to New York City for Thanksgiving.
Margie Counselman and David Crossley chaired the first March Magic event. Pam Bilger chaired the first Pig Pickin’ Pary.
The Lettice Lee Lyon Morton Memorial Fund was established.
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2001
A long-range plan was approved by the Board with three areas of focus: 1. expanding programs to include educational, recreational, and social activities; 2. bringing together other service providers to develop a community-wide vision and identify gaps in services; and 3. studying the feasibility of developing a transitional housing program.
Paul’s Place was featured in the media – Style magazine, The Baltimore Sun, The Baltimore Messenger, Towson Times, The Baltimore Jewish Times, and the CBS Morning Show with Bryant Gumbel (After-Three program discussed in a feature on manners/civility).
Paul’s Place became a United Way agency.
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2002
Paul’s Place celebrated 20 years of service to the community with a block party.
Paul’s Place, in partnership with Community Impact Baltimore, Urban Leadership Institute and Baltimore Neighborhood Indicators Alliance, produced a Community Asset Map for Washington Village/Pigtown. The mapping project identified public schools, after-school programs, libraries, health organizations, drug treatment centers, fire stations, community organizations and service providers, pharmacies, restaurants, churches, family support centers, and other businesses in the neighborhood.
Bill McLennan was hired as Executive Director.
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2003
In partnership with the Southwest Consortium, Paul’s Place started a Men’s Support Group.
Open Gates Health Clinic opened its new clinic on Washington Boulevard just around the corner from Paul’s Place, making referrals for special care for homeless and other uninsured community members simpler.
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2004
Our Hot Lunch program served over 50,000 meals.
Paul’s Place received the Standards for Excellence from Maryland Nonprofits. This seal of approval shows that Paul’s Place operates with ethics and accountability in our program operations, governance, human resources, financial management, and fundraising.
After-Three began working with elementary school children instead of middle school students.
Bill McLennan participated in the Weinberg Fellows Program.
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2005
Paul’s Place began planning for the renovation of the second floor of our Outreach Center to improve and expand programming.
Paul’s Place launched our website www.paulsplaceoutreach.org.
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Paul's Place, Inc. • 1118 Ward Street, Baltimore, MD 21230 • 410.625.0775
©2005 Paul's Place, Inc. • Privacy Policy • info@paulsplaceoutreach.org |
