‘We are so happy and grateful to be here:’ Family from Catholic Charities Inn Finds Permanent Housing in Fall River

Dironise and her husband’s two-bedroom apartment is located on the top floor of a multi-family home on a quiet street in Fall River. Upon walking through their front door, you might notice the cheery orange and blue curtains they’ve hung in the living room, the aroma of a delicious Haitian-Creole meal cooking, or the joyful sounds of Dironise’s four-year-old son playing with his older brother in their new room. 

“I am so grateful to Catholic Charities for helping us to find a home,” says Dironise. “Every time I see a homeless person living on the street, I put my hands up and think, ‘Thank you, God, that we have Catholic Charities.’” 

Driven from their home by extreme violence and corruption in Haiti, Dironise and her family traveled by bus, plane, boat, and foot to seek safety in Boston. They spent several nights sleeping on the floor of the Boston Medical Center before eventually being placed at the Catholic Charities Inn (CCI), an emergency Safety-Net shelter for families referred by the state’s emergency shelter system.  

“We were so happy to finally have a place to sleep, even if it was just one room for our whole family,” she said. “It was a tight space but that didn’t prevent me from being happy because we weren’t living on the street.” 

Within days, Dironise and her husband began to work with the shelter staff to ensure that they had taken all the necessary steps to find housing, obtain employment, enroll their children in school, and build a stable life in the United States. 

“During every meeting with our case managers, we would go over what we were doing to move forward – how many hours we were working per week, how we were saving, what we were learning, how the children were doing, what apartments we had applied for. We were also asking, ‘What else can we do?’” 

Within weeks of receiving workforce authorization, Dironise secured a job as a cashier at Stop & Shop through the support of CCI staff. While she was grateful for the opportunity to work, the $15 an hour she was making made it impossible to afford anything on Boston’s housing market.  

For weeks, Dironise and her Housing Case Manager Franklyne Paul toured and researched local apartments to try and find one within the family’s budget without luck.  

Amid the uncertainty, Dironise said Franklyne and the entire team at CCI never gave up and continued to find ways to support her family, including helping Dironise sign up for ESOL classes and a Nursing Assistant/Home Health Aide training program, taught in both English and Haitian-Creole, which she will be graduating from in December.  

When the state began to enforce a 9-month limit on emergency shelter stays, Dironise started to worry that her family would have nowhere to go if they had to leave. The one thing stronger than her fear, however, was her faith, she said, which reminded her that if the letter came, it was in God’s will.  

“When I received the letter saying we had to leave, I accepted it with courage. My courage, faith, and actions allowed us to get here. I really believe it’s a great miracle.” 

As Dironise and her family were preparing to move out, an apartment in Fall River that happened to be in the same building two other CCI families had moved into became available.  

“When I first saw it, I just couldn’t believe it,” said Dironise. “My oldest son has been overflowing with joy since he and his brother got a new room.” 

As Dironise focuses on becoming a Certified Nursing Assistant, she and her husband are thrilled by her son’s academic success and are committed to providing their children with as many opportunities as they can get. When Dironise’s son was accepted into a tuition-free academic program for high-performing students at his school in Boston, CCI staff helped secure permission for him to receive free transportation from Fall River to school every day so that he could remain in the program after they moved.

“I want my children to become people who serve and contribute to their community,” she said. “The kind things people have done for me and my children – we will be able to return one day. I will be proud of my story.” 

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