For the first time in 27 years, the Franciscan Center of Baltimore is undergoing a major renovation that will provide a culinary training kitchen and a more hospitable environment for shared meals.
Jeffrey Griffin, the Franciscan Center’s executive director, said the improvements were “desperately needed.”
“We don’t like not having an area where our clients and guests can just sit down and enjoy their meals,” he noted. “That’s really where the social workers get to work and have conversations.”
Griffin said the center has been forced to serve meals “nonstop” in recent years outside in the cold parking lot – an effort that requires renting tents and putting in a lot of extra work. A recently completed dining room alleviates that problem, providing a warm environment that prominently features art on the walls and is intended to look like a nice restaurant.
Patricia O’Brien, a self-taught artist, created the paintings that now decorate the walls of the dining room. O’Brien has volunteered at the center for 16 years and is a parishioner of the Catholic Community of St. Francis Xavier in Hunt Valley.
Some of the displayed art includes African American figures and an image of St. Francis Assisi in the woods to remember the center’s patron and the Franciscan Sisters of Baltimore who established it in the 1960s.
The artwork is expected to change every six months in collaboration with an art teacher and clients who attend the center’s art classes, as well as local artists who wish to display their work.
An old pantry is under renovation to become the space for the Culinary Training Academy, allowing training for up to 16 individuals, and free or inexpensive cooking classes for community members, in which they are able to take food home.
Another renovation in progress is a “client-choice pantry,” with an inviting “country-look.” Community members will have access to fresh fruits, vegetables, milk, bread, eggs and other healthful perishable foods that sometimes are too expensive at grocery stores.
Clients will eventually have access to a computer lab allocating 10 to 12 seats. The lab will facilitate classes to help clients pass GED tests.
The renovations, which started early 2021 and are expected to be finalized June 1, 2022, are part of a comprehensive plan to renovate the entire center.
Although most renovations are currently taking place on the first floor, future renovations include the second and third floors. More office spaces for social workers, who used to meet 3,000 individuals daily before COVID-19, will be added to the second floor. The third floor will include a multi-purpose, open-space layout allowing for partnerships with small groups that may wish to collaborate with the center, and for staff to relax, interact and eat during their break times.
A $2 million capital campaign has been launched, of which $1.5 million has been raised through a private foundation and state and city grants. The center will approach longtime donors in the future.
Baltimore City Councilman Robert Stokes Sr., Maryland State Delegate Regina T. Boyce and Delegate Maggie McIntosh facilitated the grants to the Franciscan Center. The center received a total of $200,000 from the state and $150,000 from the city.
Lennar Home Construction renovated the dining room and most of the Culinary Training Kitchen as a gift, valued at nearly $300,000.
Present Company in Baltimore is the architecture firm for the Franciscan Center’s project.
“We want our guests to feel something unique by coming to our center; at peace and in a safe place,” Griffin said. “That’s how we want them to feel when we start having conversations and serving their meals.”
Email Priscila González de Doran at pdoran@CatholicReview.org
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