Helping Hands Provide for Nashville Homeless

Nashville – On Sunday, over 40 cars streamed in to The Dominican Campus parking lots with help for homeless persons amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

As Nashville prepares health-care facilities to treat the sick, the Mayor’s office launched an initiative to set up temporary medical facilities to help homeless persons in the city who may contract the coronavirus.

To support city-wide preparations, local families donated needed items. Blankets, washable pillows, laundry, detergent and clothing were requested.

The invitation to donate was sent out by The Dominican Campus schools through social media and emails by mid-afternoon on Sunday, March 22, and the response was fast and generous.

The overwhelming response was “a great expression of God’s love in the midst of difficult times,” Sister Ann Hyacinth Genow, O.P., said. Sister serves as Administrator of the Dominican Campus Support Services.

The drive was one way The Dominican Campus community could help, hours before the “Safer at Home Order” took effect at midnight that evening.

The “Safer at Home Order” was issued to “protect the public health of the citizens of Nashville and Davidson County, to mitigate the impact of COVID-19, to bend the curve, and to disrupt the spread of the virus,” asking individuals to shelter at home and not to go out except for essential needs.

Items were delivered to the front porch of The Dominican Campus White House by 7 p.m. Sunday. City officials picked up the donations at that time and in successive trips. Unofficial reports from the city report that The Dominican Campus donation is the largest received thus far.

The 83-acre Dominican Campus is home to Aquinas College, St. Cecilia Academy, and Overbrook School, and is located minutes from downtown Nashville. Each of the schools are independently owned and operated by the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia of Nashville, Tennessee.