ROSEDALE, Md. — Kaiah Fincham loves the camera.
Kaiah is almost two, and like most toddlers, she loves it when her parents read to her.
However, what's not the same for Kaiah is that she lives at the Eastside Shelter in Rosedale with her mom, Mikaya Fincham, and dad, Michael Tolden. The family has been here about three months.
Michael moved here from South Carolina a few years ago for a restaurant job. The restaurant eventually closed, and he’s struggled to find steady work.
He has culinary skills, but no high school diploma or GED.
“Making pizzas, gourmet burgers, sushi, soul food, any type of food I can pretty much make it,” he says. “Serving, good customer service. I know how to set up trucks, put up trucks and stock up trucks.”
Baltimore County owns three emergency shelters.
Eastside has 236 dormitory-style beds. It’s actually two shelters in one building: a men’s shelter with 36 beds on one floor; and a family shelter with 200 beds for women and children on another.
Hannah More Family Shelter in Reisterstown has 76 beds, and the 150-bed Westside Men’s Shelter is in Catonsville.
St. Vincent de Paul runs two of those shelters, Hannah More and as of July 1, here at Eastside.
“In this space, we plan to provide adult workshops so that we can help individuals going through homelessness with preparations to help them get back on their feet,” says Steven Andres-Aquino, assistant director of shelter services for St. Vincent de Paul. “Financial literacy, job workforce development, and assisting them with creating their resumes.”
St. Vincent de Paul, which has been serving the Baltimore area for 160 years, is bringing its extensive service programs to the shelter, including a robust youth initiative.
“This room will be our youth activity room,” Andres-Aquino says. “We want to give our children a space where they can express themselves, especially during a difficult time when they're experiencing homelessness. We also plan on with the older children, doing mentoring and tutoring.”
St. Vincent de Paul’s plans are bringing renewed hope to Kaiah’s family.
“Now I got more jobs lined up that I can get to and got resources, actually resources,” Michael says. “I’m getting ready for my GED program that they found and starting Kaiah for Early Start for her learning, so it’s a big relief for me and my family and I’m really proud of that.”
St. Vincent de Paul also plans to give the shelter a facelift, with updates to the common areas to create a more welcoming environment. The nonprofit is also bringing its own staff and systems, including a longstanding training program for employees.
The contracts to operate the shelters are awarded by the county through a competitive bidding process, according to Mark Millspaugh, director of the county’s Department of Social Services, which oversees the shelters. The previous contracts were awarded in 2019.
Community Assistance Network or CAN, the former operator of the Eastside shelter, also operates the Westside shelter.
With the new, five-year contracts going in effect July 1 comes an increase in total shelter beds in the county, from 444 to 462.
St. Vincent de Paul is looking for volunteers to serve at Eastside Shelter. For more information, send an email to volunteer@vincentbaltimore.org.
