Maria Protopsaltis, deputy director for Samuel’s House, joined Good Morning Keys on KeysTalk 96.9/102.7FM this morning to talk about what’s been happening at Samuel’s House.
Samuel’s House was founded in 1999 in the Keys.
Protopsaltis said, “If you think about that date, I emphasize that because we were providing services here within Monroe County for over 20 years. It’s pretty incredible and Elmira Lito saw a huge deficit at the time. The doors of the emergency shelter opened October 1, 1999. The reason being is one of the large complexes was closed at that time, and there was a huge deficit on where women and women with children could go for housing. October 1, 1999 the doors of our Mary Spottswood Women’s Center opened. The need is still growing, but it continued to grow. Back in 2007, we opened up Kathy’s Hope, another facility. It was more of like transitional facility for women and women with children. Then in 2010, we recognized the need that again, it’s still growing, but for families and also that includes men with children, for their housing needs. So we opened Casa de Meredith in 2010 and our emergency shelter was built on an old military barrack. It’s in constant needs of repairs and renovations and upgrades and things like that, as well as the other two facilities, because we have some harsh weather and climate conditions here between the hurricanes and the salt and things like that. It’s beautiful work. It’s a beautiful mission. I’m really thankful that Elmira did found Samuel’s house and provide for this community.”
Caturday at Sloppy Joe’s will happen tomorrow to help Samuel’s House.
Protopsaltis said, “This will be our first time participating. So we’re so thankful to Sloppy Joes for allowing Samuel’s House to participate in this. It actually kicks off tomorrow. So for both locals and visitors, this means you can enjoy your favorite festivities at Sloppy Joe’s and support Samuel’s House, which is a great cause. So anyone in town or visiting, or just love Sloppy Joes, just come on down, come see us. We’ll be there. We’ll be wearing some cat ears, and we’ll be talking about the mission of Samuel’s House. It’s the all Saturdays through the month of September. So we’re going to be there.”
The website will have updates on the events.
Protopsaltis said, “Christmas is coming, which means we’re going to be out there with Wesley House Holiday Village on December 5. We are so active with our community partners, and we’re so grateful for the work that we do with them and the referrals that we receive from them as well, and vice versa. So that’ll be happening. And I just wanted to again, encourage anyone that wants to get involved with Samuel’s House, please give us a call. We are always looking for amazing volunteers. We couldn’t do the work that we do, not only without our donors and our community support, but our volunteers as well. So crucial for us. We’re also looking for volunteers to help us with our Christmas duties, which are also a lot of fun and a fun way to give back. But also we’ll be sending out our appeal to the community. And of course, we have on our website, you can go right there on our homepage and make a donation to Samuel’s House. We encourage that for the holidays. We have a few things that you can actually make a donation on behalf of your friends, and we send them an ornament and a thank you on your behalf. So there’s so many cool things and so many cool ways that you can get involved and we’re here to serve you and our community.”
For more information, click here: https://samuelshouse.org/