Med Center Volunteers Reach Out To Benefit Tender Mercies

How would you manage to get a hot meal once a day, if you had no kitchen at home?

At Tender Mercies, a United Way agency that provides single-room apartments for formerly homeless people with mental illness, fire codes prevent the residents from cooking in their own units. The three Tender Mercies residential facilities in Over-the-Rhine contain only a few microwaves that must be shared by 166 residents and one kitchen that can only be used with staff supervision.

To provide a diet that includes hot food as often as possible, Tender Mercies relies on volunteers like Pat Bell, clinical department administrator for Physical Medicine and Rehab. Bell is one of several Medical Center employees who regularly provide dinner for the agency's residents.

It's 5:50 p.m. on a Wednesday evening and instead of heading home during rush hour, Bell is serving up soft drinks, ice tea and lemonade she bought for tonight's dinner for 40 at Haven House on W. 12th St. She has plenty of help. Kathy Stites of Administrative Services brought fresh veggies and ranch dip. Rolls came from Marcia Miladinov of Orthopaedics and her daughter Michele. Dan Albrinck of Administrative Services brought chicken, and Karen Williams of Ophthalmology and Rehab served up cake and cookies for dessert. Plastic plates, cups, napkins and utensils arrived courtesy of Vern Rolf of Family Medicine. Two other UC employees chipped in on the food items - Jan Hawk and Steve Marine.

Hosting dinners at Tender Mercies has been a monthly tradition for Family Medicine since 1995, according to Rolf, senior business administrator who launched this volunteer effort. "I originally got involved in the program through an organization called Life Success. I thought it was so rewarding. The folks there were so appreciative, I decided to strike out on my own and start another night," Rolf said.

More East Campus staffers followed Family Medicine's lead about a year ago, adding two more nights a month through the Medical Center Community Outreach Committee, a group of employees who organize and perform community service projects. Administrative Services business administrator Heather Cox and Family Medicine administrative secretary Charity Noble work behind the scenes to coordinate the roster of UC volunteers.

To feed all of its mentally ill residents, Tender Mercies depends on more than 400 volunteers from church groups, corporations, PTAs, Scout troops and other community groups, says Marcia Spaeth, Tender Mercies CEO. But even that's not enough. Up to 17 days a month go uncovered, and the residents fill in with "tons of donated pizza," she says.

In addition to providing good food, the volunteer dinners also present an opportunity for "'normal people' to learn about mental illness," Spaeth says. "The fact that someone acts differently doesn't mean they are less of a person than you or I." She recommends that interested volunteers limit their serving crew to four or five people because of space.

"It doesn't take a huge time commitment, and you leave feeling wonderful," said Spaeth, who has been involved with Tender Mercies since its founding by the late Catholic priest, Father Chris Hall, in 1985.

In addition to its volunteers, Tender Mercies relies upon donations and United Way funding to keep going. That's why the workplace fund-raising campaign, UC's Charitable Giving Campaign, is so vital for social services like Tender Mercies, she says. The UC campaign supports United Way and Community Shares agencies.

"We have a staff of 54," Spaeth says. "We have to have funding to provide full-time, 24-hour-a-day supervision for our residents to make sure they are safe and keep taking the medication they need. We could not do all that with volunteers." Without that high-quality care, she said many of residents would wind up back in jail and in psychiatric units in an endless cycle of homelessness, hospitalization and prison.

By 6:30 p.m. the meal Stites is helping to serve is practically gone. Some of the residents come back for seconds of the plentiful chicken. The UC crew is packing up to head out the door. Many of them will go back to their offices to finish up work before heading home later than usual. The sacrifice of leisure time has been worth it, all the volunteers agree.

"I just had a man two minutes ago say 'God bless you for doing this,'" explains Bell. "I enjoy doing it. Most of the residents are really grateful," says Albrinck.

Again as the volunteers head out the door, the same Tender Mercies resident expresses his appreciation again, sitting at the table with his empty white plate and blue beverage cup sitting near him. "God bless you," he says.

People interested in joining the dinner program may contact Vern Rolf at rolfvj@fmmail.uc.edu or at 558-4021.

Other staff members involved in the program are:
Rena Alex, Tom Aug, Karen Bates, Kim Kues, Debby Mitchell, Mary Ann Schaefer, Allison Albrinck, Christy Bailey, Angela Bennett, Sharon Booker, Shirley Boone, Barbara Cappel-Green, Mary Davis, Mary Duke, Cheryl Dixon, Tina Fortney, Marlene Frietch, Peggy Grause, Kathy Grauvogel, Carlette Grayson-Rogers, Sue Guenther, Angel Hope, Amy Mullaney, Bette Rains, Trina Rigdon, and Mary Riley.