I landed here in Walnut Creek, at
St. Paul’s
, in November of 2016 for my fourth residenin the six years that
I’ve lived in Northern California. I always enjoy moving around
and meeting new folks
and being some small part of the beautiful tapestry called the
Diocese of California. Since I was already living in the East Bay,
I had some ideas about what was happening at St. Paul’s. I did
not, however, realize just how big and how amazing the work of St. Paul’s was.
I am, and I continue to be, blown away by the sheer courage and
dedication of this community and what it is that they are
accomplishing. St. Paul’s is quietly, and with considerable
perseverance, doing the work of God for the people of God, and the story of this work is remarkable.
In a nutshell, St. Paul’s is tearing down two old existing
buildings on its property and building
St. Paul’s Commons , a four-story facility that will house 45 units of affordable
housing and provide new space for Trinity Center’s homeless
ministries and meeting spaces for the parish and neighborhood.
The project was the joint brainchild of the Rev. Sylvia Vasquez
and Donna Colombo, who is the current director of
Trinity Center
. To help make their dream a reality, they enlisted the help of a
small group of energetic and inexhaustible folks: Charles Couch,
Jennifer Machado, Molly
Clopp, Richard Kemink, Dave Mattern and Julie Layne. Despite their
each having full lives outside this ministry, they have been
working tirelessly with the developer,
Resources for Community Development (RCD)
Though it would be easy to get lost in the details of the history
of project and all excellent work involved, I want to focus here
on one particular example of change and blessing by lifting up the
work Trinity Center Director
Donna Colombo. Donna has changed minds in the city of Walnut Creek
and, in the process, changed both the lives of its homeless
residents and the people who work to help them. St. Paul's Commons
will include 45 units of supportive
housing and space for Trinity Center's homeless program.
My first encounter with Donna has marked my memory and my heart
with a passion, an energy, and an example of a dogged
determination that I don’t often see. When Donna was asked to take
over the ministry “next door” that morphed from its beginnings
as
Fresh Start into Trinity Center, I am sure that she could not have
predicted the journey that was to come or the place that she now
finds herself in. I think I began to understand the hard work of
this process when I attended
the Walnut Creek meeting of the city planning commission.
As I sat through this lengthy meeting, I heard voices of fear,
anger, disappointment, and ignorance. But there were also voices
of hope. In fact, supporters of Trinity Center’s much-needed
temporary move to another location attended
in overwhelming numbers. Not only had the people of St. Paul’s
come out in force, the greater community of church and charitable
organizations were also a strong and visible presence.
When I began to investigate some of the back story
of this remarkable showing of support, I quickly discovered that
the hearts and minds of both political and business members in Walnut Creek
had been radically changed through the constant and dedicated work
of Donna Colombo and Trinity Center. To a person, the members of
the city planning commission voiced absolute support of the mission of Trinity Center and the
benefit that this little ministry on Trinity Avenue had been able
to provide for Walnut Creek, a city bursting at the seams with
growth.
The importance of the hearings with the city planning commission
and then the city council was because the physical location for
Trinity Center Ministries would have to be moved out of their
old buildings at St. Paul’s. In order for the project of St. Paul’s Commons to proceed, these
buildings had to go. What would Trinity Center do? Where would
they go? How could they continue to serve the most vulnerable if
the center itself were homeless too!
Some of the more angry voices in the city meetings had hoped
that the location selected as the temporary site would be
denied. The level of fear and ignorance about the homeless was
jaw-droppingly painful to listen to, but, patiently, the city council listened to each member of the community who
needed to speak and hoped to be heard. Patiently as well, Donna
and members of the Trinity Board stood and responded; they spoke
in understanding, love, and compassion
for all the fear, for all the anxiety, and for all the urgent
needs.
When the council entered into its own open deliberations, the
reflections offered by each member were consistent and could
be summarized this way:
Through the dedicated witness of Donna Colombo, and the
exceptional day program being run out of Trinity Center, the city
of Walnut Creek is a safer more compassionate city. The example of
Trinity Center has softened the hearts and minds of city
leaders
who, just a few short years ago, wouldn’t even admit that Walnut
Creek had homeless people.
