THE DWELLING PLACE tells the story of a shelter for homeless women
as it approaches its 25th year of service in the heart of New York
City's Hell's Kitchen. Focusing on the women who come each night for
dinner at the shelter, and the group of streetwise nuns who run it,
this film will show how The Dwelling Place has helped hundreds of
women keep alive their hope and humanity in the face of overwhelming
odds.
The Dwelling Place
sits near the mouth of the Lincoln Tunnel, in the shadow of the
towering Port Authority overpass, with the constant rumbling of buses
audible through the front windows. In this place, where it would seem
almost impossible to dwell, a handful of women established a sheltered
haven in an otherwise inhospitable environment. It is now home to two
groups of women in covenant with each other, creating one community
under one roof. To experience this community is to shatter every
existing stereotype we hold about both homeless women and nuns.
The Women of the
Dwelling Place:
Sister Nancy
is the founder and director of The Dwelling Place. She's a
tough-minded, no-nonsense nun who can take on City Hall just as well
as she can break up a brawl in The Dwelling Place dining room. Over 24
years ago, Sister Nancy recognized that there were no shelters
dedicated exclusively to helping women. Shortly after taking her vows
as a Franciscan nun, she gave up the solitude of her convent to open a
shelter that homeless women could call home, and all these years
later, she still wakes up each morning at the shelter to cook, clean
and counsel. Sister Nancy cuts a remarkable figure, whether she is
talking in the alcove with a resident, playing the dining room piano
while volunteers set the tables, or sweeping the dust off the tranquil
green patio.
Judy is one
of the regulars at the Dwelling Place dinners. She is sixty-four, was
raised in the South and moved to New York City in her twenties.
Several years ago, due to changes in technology and a mild illness,
Judy lost her job. She wandered the streets for years until she found
The Dwelling Place where she has lived, dined and held court for
years. Every evening, Judy removes her long white gloves just before
she sits down for the communal dinner. Seated at her regular table,
she reads aloud from the newspapers and passes on the latest gossip to
the other ladies of her circle.
Angel is a
former prostitute who was kicked out by her pimp because she was a
junkie with AIDS. Angel's hair changes color every week and she
somehow always finds shoes to match. As one of the staff opens the
front door, Angel challenges her by saying, "Sister, sister, I'm
a lost cause."
Peggy, now a
part-time employee of the shelter, first came to The Dwelling Place
twelve months ago. She was not who you would expect to find at their
doors. Once a professional working for a leading consulting firm, she
had found herself homeless, deeply in debt and severely depressed.
Today, back in a business suit, Peggy shares her experiences of
entering this environment of support and love, and how the community
helped her get back on her feet.
The final woman we
encounter will be someone who comes to The Dwelling Place for the
first time. As Sister Enid, a staff member, says, "Sometimes a
lady will stay for a few days, get some money and we will never see
her again. Others stay for over a year to heal, grow, establish a
source of income and settle in their own apartment." We will
follow this new woman's story from the time she walks in through the
door until she walks out.
THE DWELLING
PLACE will highlight the obstacles that marginalize homeless women
and keep them lost and invisible in a society in which poor people
have no place. The film will illustrate how tough it is for homeless
women to get "re-established" and deemed employable; the
challenge of creating a sense of privacy in an open environment; their
conflicts with the shelter staff and the pain of maintaining
relationships with family members, friends, and lovers, both within
and outside the shelter. The film will document the dramatic shift in
the type of woman who knocks on the shelter's door as funding sources
and other support disappear; the frustrations of dealing with an
inefficient public bureaucracy; and the women's struggle to maintain a
sense of community in the face of destructive forces such as sexism,
racism and mental illness.
You are invited
into this community with the hope that you will be moved to join the
struggle to help homeless women. It is not just something that happens
to 'other people' - many women all around us live only a paycheck away
from homelessness.
Our ultimate dream
for the film is that it may serve as a catalyst to re-energize the
dialogue about alternatives and opportunities for those women our
society has allowed to become and remain homeless.