CLAIRVAUX HOUSE
The ‘white house’ owned by St. Bernard Church at 32 School Street, has become a temporary shelter for homeless mothers and their children called “Clairvaux House” in honor of St. Bernard of Clairvaux. Clairvaux House will be operated by Cornerstone Foundation offering temporary shelter for up to 3 families at a time providing counseling and other support needed for the families to transition to permanent housing.
Helen Syriac, founder of Cornerstone, said “today there are from 15-20 homeless mothers and their children in need of temporary shelter in our area. Families are divided with children sleeping in cars and friend’s homes and the current support network of shelters for adults can’t meet their needs. These families need to be together in a quiet, safe, clean place while we work with them to find permanent housing. Clairvaux House will be perfect to meet this critical need.” St. Bernard recently added a fire sprinkler system to comply with code requirements, other area churches and businesses have provided furniture and supplies, and Cornerstone will fund the ongoing operation of Clairvaux House.