Vision quest complete

COEUR d’ALENE — St. Vincent de Paul North Idaho is doing a good job helping those in need, said its executive director, Larry Riley.

Last year, about 20,000 people came through the doors of its HELP Center on Harrison Avenue seeking assistance with shelter, job searches, meals and paying bills.

It did all it could for those people.

“But we can do a better job,” Riley said Thursday.

Being designated Idaho’s first EnVision Center is a good start.

St. Vincent’s celebrated the new recognition by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development with speeches, a ribbon-cutting ceremony and praise for staff, board members and volunteers.

About 30 people — wearing masks and socially distanced — attended the 45-minute program.

“What we’re doing today is big, but we had to settle for a soft opening,” Riley said.

The four pillars of the program are economic empowerment, education advancement, health and wellness, and character and leadership. St. Vincent’s already does these things and has for the past decade operating from the former home of the Coeur d’Alene library.

EnVision Center recognition was described by St. Vincent’s board president Mike Kennedy as “basically the culmination of many decades of service to the neediest people in Coeur d’Alene. St. Vincent de Paul of North Idaho has been a friend to our community’s poor, homeless, and neighbors in need throughout Kootenai County.”

“We are called to serve by our Catholic faith, but we stay in service because it is the right thing to do. And the service is needed,” Kennedy wrote.

St. Vincent’s provided emergency shelter for hundreds last year, thousands of bed nights at its winter warming center and more than 10,000 meals for the hungry.

The EnVision Center status, which took about 18 months to complete, could improve its ability, stretch its resources, to do even more.

There are about 70 such centers nationwide, with each a bit different. Each can call on the other for assistance and advice.

“St. Vincent de Paul is a rock in this community,” said Jeffrey McMorris, HUD regional administrator.

He said the EnVision designation could streamline the often-lengthy process for assistance, too.

“As you all know, the federal bureaucracy is huge. I work in it and struggle with it,” McMorris said. “The average person on the street, it’s just too big to figure out.”

“Our commitment with HUD is to help St. Vincent de Paul and get those services, which are provided by your tax dollars, and get them with the people in North Idaho who come through these doors.”

Doing that, he said, will “give them the resources so they can reach their potential and live the best lives possible.”

Coeur d’Alene Mayor Steve Widmyer said St. Vincent’s is “building lives.”

“We are really proud of what this EnVision Center means to our community,” he said.

Of particular need is subsidized housing, for which there is about a one-year wait for families and about a 10-year wait for those 62 and older.

Riley said he was on the phone with the Idaho Housing and Finance Association Thursday morning. It has CARES Act funding to invest in projects where it can help acquire land, he said.

“So if we can find some dirt where we can build some projects, then we can create this path to self-sufficiency,” Riley said.

John Bruning, board member, was singled out several times for his efforts on behalf of St. Vincent’s.

“I know of no single individual who is more responsible for the continuity of this agency than John Bruning,” Riley said.

Bruning deflected credit and pointed it to staffers who have turned down opportunities to go elsewhere because they want to stay and help those who turn to St. Vincent's.

"That's the kind of dedication we have here," he said.