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Tuesday, February 21, 2006

HELP AND HOPE FOR THE HOMELESS IN DELAWARE

Angelina Sarro was a homeless alcoholic when she arrived at the Mary Mother of Hope Transitional Residence in Wilmington, Delaware in 1996. She credits the shelter and the services provided at the facility with enabling her to restructure her life in a positive direction. Her recovery was so successful that the Ministry of Caring recruited her in 2000 to manage the facility where she had begun her transformation four years previously. Mary Mother of Hope houses nine single women, including Sarro, in separate bedrooms. Sarro says her door is always open to her housemates 24 hours a day seven days a week. They eat together in a renovated dining room in a bright and warm row house in downtown Wilmington. The 59-year-old Sarro said she acts as a friend and surrogate mother or grandmother to all of the women who are in residence. She said, "We arrive at Mary Mother of Hope as caterpillars and depart as butterflies."

HUD Regional Director, Guy Ciarrocchi, presented a check for more than $4 million dollars in grants to support Delaware programs that house and serve the homeless.

Sarro told her inspiring story during a press conference on Monday, January 23, 2006 at the transitional residence she now manages. HUD Regional Director, Guy Ciarrocchi, presented a check for more than $4 million dollars in grants to support Delaware programs that house and serve the homeless. Included in that check is $1.7 million for the Ministry of Caring to continue its operation of the Mary Mother of Hope Transitional Residence and its other homeless programs.