Archive | From the desk of Irit Umani

We started the year with an assumption that we would keep serving our un-housed neighbors just like we have done for over twenty years. We surely could not have imagined that life as we knew it would be changed radically by a virus that made it unsafe to gather in groups. We started the year being a navigation center, service provider, a church, and overall a community that would meet our brothers and sisters right where they are to help them make progress through our support, guidance, advocacy, compassion, and professional knowledge. In early March the whole country came to a standstill as it tried to figure out how to respond to the pandemic that made our previous way of operation potentially detrimental to one’s life.

By Irit Umani
Executive Director

When the COVID19 pandemic started, we just watched it for a while with worried minds, until it became clear that Trinity Center must re-adjust to the new reality. Clearly, we could not keep serving 60 people, six to a table, in our relatively small space. To do so would have meant spreading the virus and risking ourselves, our volunteers and the beloved neighbors we serve. It was heart-breaking because we love the mission, the values and the actual work that is done at Trinity Center. And the people we serve need us and our services.

With deep pain and much worry, Trinity Center now follows the Mayor’s order to “shelter-in-place.” Today, March 24^th, we served the last breakfast until at least  April 13^th. With breakfast this morning, served outside (yes, distance kept,) each of our brothers and sisters also received a care package with soap, shampoo, new socks and other goodies, thanks to St. Mark’s Episcopal Church.

What do you do when distancing is the healthiest practice of the day and your whole life has been about connectedness?

By Irit Umani

Homelessness in Austin became a big public discussion issue recently, widely covered by media in town hall meetings and in city council meetings. What happened? What changes created this citywide “emergency?”