Milwaukee Catholic Herald

A polished approach to ministry

Nail ministry to homeless clips stereotypes
one fingernail at a time

NICE nails — Sherman Winslow shows off his newly manicured nails at Repairers of the Breach, a daytime shelter for homeless people in Milwaukee. Thanks to students at two Milwaukee Catholic colleges, men and women are able to get free nail treatments once each month.

Three years ago, two Franciscan Sisters wanted to find an outreach project for college students in their campus ministry programs. With the assistance of Repairers of the Breach, a daytime homeless shelter in Milwaukee, they nailed down a unique project.

Each month, students from Cardinal Stritch University and Mount Mary College offer nail grooming to homeless men and women who visit Repairers of the Breach. While having fingernails trimmed and polished sounds like frills reserved for movie stars, the two sisters who started the nail ministry see it as an important service on many levels.

“The most important thing for our students is to see others as an extension, a reflection of the divine,” said Sister of St. Francis of Assisi Stella DeVenuta, director of campus ministry at Mount Mary College. “I really feel that it gives students the opportunity to see the face of Christ in other people that they wouldn’t necessarily come into contact with on a one-to-one basis. It makes a big difference when you’re looking in their faces, holding their hands and doing their nails.”

“Students have thoroughly enjoyed being down here,” said Sr. Adele Thibaudeau, campus ministry director at Cardinal Stritch and member of the same religious order. “They enjoy these people so much, sharing conversation and sharing a meal. Sometimes we talk about the values of St. Francis and ask what he would be doing. We figure he’d be down here with us fixing nails.”

Putting Catholic social teaching into action

For those on the receiving end, well manicured nails are a welcome service, especially when trying to find jobs. However, MacCanon Brown, the shelter’s executive director, said the real benefit of this ministry is putting Catholic social teaching into action.

“This is like a crash course (in Catholic social teaching) without the textbook,” said Brown. “The time that the students are here in their nail ministry sessions are abundant with solidarity. You can talk about solidarity. You can read about solidarity, but this is really happening.

“For students to be in this, it helps them shape their world view so accurately with Catholic social teaching,” added Brown, “because they cannot help but have the perspective of the compassion, justice and unity of Catholic social teaching.”

Repairers of the Breach operates out of a three-story brick building on the corner of Vliet and North 14th streets. In addition to giving homeless men and women a place to relax and enjoy a snack or coffee, the shelter offers a literacy program, worship services, employment assistance and alcohol and drug recovery programs. Free clothing and shoes are also available to the needy.

Students arrive at the shelter carrying their supplies and bags of sandwiches prepared for shelter guests. A table in the main lobby serves as home base for the nail groomers, and a sign-up sheet is provided for people interested in the service.

Stereotypes quickly shattered

For some of the students, it’s the first time they’ve spoken to homeless people, and according to the campus ministers, many stereotypes are quickly shattered.

“I’ve heard students say things like, ‘I didn’t know that we had so many people in our city who were homeless,’ or ‘I was surprised how many of those people were educated,’” said Sr. DeVenuta. “It allows them to see ... through someone else’s eyes, through someone else’s hands.”

Students do not give out their last names, said Sr. DeVenuta, “but that doesn’t mean you can’t engage in conversation with them. We try to make human connections without being evasive or judgmental.”

“The community here is so wonderful,” said Sr. Thibaudeau. “They pray, they are respectful, and so I think it’s a marvelous way for (students) to begin to meet people in a supervised atmosphere. We always talk on the way back about what they saw and what they felt, and what this meant to them. They are always so positive. They wish everybody at the university had this opportunity at least once.”

Maame Dampare, a student at Mount Mary College from Ghana, is a return visitor to Repairers of the Breach. “When Sr. Stella told me about this, I thought it would be very nice, very rewarding,” she said. “I was intrigued.”

Homelessness is not a problem in her native Ghana, said Dampare, because people in need receive help from families. “I didn’t understand why people could be homeless,” she said. “In my country there is a lot more support for people.”

On her first visit to the shelter, Dampare said she was overcome with emotion. “I cried and cried because these people are just like me,” she said. “I thought homeless people were like murderers.”

Real empathy for homeless

When Lucille Duncan, a nursing student at Mount Mary College, found out about the nail ministry program, she jumped at the opportunity to help.

“I always wanted to help the homeless because I was once homeless myself,” she said, while filing the nails of a shelter visitor. “I have a heart and a passion for them. Whatever I can do, nails or feeding them, I’ll do.”

Duncan said she is living proof that society’s perceptions of people who are homeless are inaccurate. “We all have certain problems,” she said. “But there is a misconception that (the homeless) are lazy. That’s not true. Only in very rare cases.”

Duncan has been studying nursing at Mount Mary for three years. She’s hoping to graduate with a bachelor’s degree in 2006, specializing in oncology nursing.

For rural students, a new experience

Many of the students at Cardinal Stritch and Mount Mary are from rural areas and have never seen homeless people until participating in the nail ministry, said Sr. Thibaudeau. “Often they are from rural northern Wisconsin, on dairy farms, and this is really an introduction to them to our city and to the needy people in our city.”

Laura Eads, 19, a freshman at Cardinal Stritch, fits this description.

“I’m from a small town in Iowa and so there’s not really any shelters,” she said. “Coming to Milwaukee, it made me realize how many people actually are homeless.”

Eads said her impression of homeless people has changed since visiting Repairers of the Breach. “I figured everyone would be pushing around shopping carts. Just by looking at people you can’t tell that they’re homeless,” she said, gesturing to people around the shelter’s lobby. “They’re very friendly and always very thankful.”

Shelter guests thankful for service

Among those getting nails groomed recently was Vivian Williams. She said the concern students show toward people who are homeless means a lot. “Just when you think no one cares and no one’s thinking about you, there is a sun behind the clouds and (students) were the sun.”

Williams said she lost her job and her home about two months ago. “Because of the things I’m going through right now, I have a very low self esteem. Once the girls came in to donate their time, after they left, the rest of the day was swell.”

Sherman Winslow, a volunteer at the shelter, is also grateful that others show compassion to people who are homeless.

“It was nice for them to think about homeless people,” he said. “To come down here and take time out and do something for the homeless, everyone here is grateful for that.”

Winslow also gave the nail groomers a thumbs-up for their work.

“These young ladies did an excellent job,” he said. “I give them 100 percent. They smoothed them out, evened them out. I really appreciate that.”

Making her second visit to Repairers of the Breach, Akosua Prempeh, a freshman at Cardinal Stritch, said she’s learned a valuable lesson about judging people.

“It’s not always that everybody who’s homeless is on the wrong path,” she said. “It’s very good people who are just facing a hard time in their life. People are just probably facing a rough spot in their life and hopefully, I just pray they get over it.”