by Mary Ellen Mitchell, Lydia’s House Co Director Mary Ellen just completed a 5 month sabbatical and returned to work at Lydia’s House Jan 2. Here’s her final reflection on the time away. It’s, effectively, the last night of this sabbatical. Sam and I leave Mexico tomorrow, and I’ll start back into Lydia’s House rotations January 2. To end this time our family took a walk on the beach, to watch the sunset. We did so in gratitude, first for the many people who hold the work we do at home so we can be here, and also for God,

By: Lyric Morris-Latchaw It is so surreal to finally be able to say that after nearly 4 years of drawing and planning, countless city council meetings, hours of community engagement sessions and volunteer painting, this beauty is finally completed and in the world. This mural means more to me than any other I’ve ever painted, for so many reasons. First, it is right around the corner from my home. It was such a joy to be painting for MY people in MY neighborhood; heartfelt thanks to all of the neighbors and friends who came by to say hello, bring snacks

By Family & Maternal Health Fellow, Savannah Staten In reflecting on my time at Lydia’s House, I thought of a piece Meridith wrote in our previous newsletter. She ends her ponderings with “Only prolonged proximity provides the space for relationships to emerge.”. I couldn’t think of a better way to describe how Lydia’s House has changed me. Moving eight hours away from home, knowing no one in Cincinnati, required me to grow in relationships with others, myself, and my spiritual and wellness practices. However, it was not an overnight change. My elementary, middle, high school and university are all located

By Mary Ellen Mitchell When we first started Lydia’s house we had a category of volunteer that we called “Bread and Roses.” Meridith came up with it, with the thought that we needed a place for people that would bring both practical and nice things to the guests. A few months back I cleaned out the old volunteer folder and got rid of that job, thinking “well that never panned out.” And then I paused and reconsidered… actually it did, surprisingly well with one person, Anne. The term Bread and Roses—a Catholic Worker Favorite—has a storied history. It started in

An Introduction to Mercy Volunteer, Faith Casella-Lopez Full Circle: through a series of developments that lead back to the original source, position, or situation or to a complete reversal of the original position When I discovered the potential opportunity to do a year of service with Mercy Volunteer Corp in fall of 2020, I had just started a new position with a wonderful community services agency supporting foster children during their supervised family visits. Since work hours were limited and the future held many unknowns at that time, I took the chance at applying to be a Mercy Volunteer for the