By Tom Tracy - Florida Catholic
MIAMI | Over the years and under various sponsorships, a small shelter for homeless families near the city’s downtown has been consistent in one important aspect: families and children are welcomed here.
“New Life is very unique in the sense it is one of the only places that accommodates families as a unit rather than splitting them up or putting the children in foster homes — we are always striving to keep the family together as a unit until they can move into their own homes,” said longtime volunteer Jocelyn Watkins, who along with her late husband, John M. Watkins, started volunteering at New Life when it was a local affiliate of the Episcopal Church in Miami.
Today, Watkins is still an active volunteer and a liaison between St Philip's Episcopal Church in Coral Gables and New Life. The church hosts monthly birthday celebrations for the residents, along with annual Christmas, Easter, Mother’s Day festivities and other activities, including student tutoring and motivational speakers.
She spoke with theFlorida Catholic during a tour of New Life that she made with fellow church volunteers Randall Litten and Jim Tellette of St. Philip’s.
“We were introduced to New Life about 30 years ago when it was in extreme financial distress and they were about to close their doors and turn their lights out,” Watkins said, adding that the period of hardship led to the establishment of a donor's circle called Friends of New Life.
Eventually, the archdiocese’s Catholic Charities took over sponsorship of the shelter in order to keep the doors open at a time when homelessness remains a persistent problem in Miami.
A local study showed that 982 homeless persons were counted in Miami on Jan. 21, 2016, with the total number of sheltered and unsheltered homeless combined at 4,235. Downtown Miami saw a slight increase in homelessness over the previous year.
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