Read the Email from our Administrator

A St. Joseph Altar, sponsored by St. Patrick’s Church, was held at Ozanam Inn on the Feast of St. Joseph on March 19. 2010.  See the Article and photos from the day’s activities.

Please click here to read the article

A St. Joseph Altar, sponsored by St. Patrick’s Church, will be held at Ozanam Inn on the Feast of St. Joseph on March 19. 2010. 
 
Viewing of the Altar will take place on  Friday, March 19, 2010 – 10:00 am until 4:00 pm.

The Altar is for viewing only.  St. Joseph bags will be distributed to the public and blessed St. Joseph candles will be available for purchase.  All food on the Altar will be given to Ozanam Inn to be distributed to the needy they serve.  All monetary donations will also be given to the Inn.

Location of Ozanam Inn:
843 Camp St.
New Orleans,  LA 70130
Phone:  523-1184

2010 comes in with a brrrrrrr     We hope you have been warm and cozy in your home and place of business during this particularly cold weather since the start of the New Year.  Thanks to all who visited our web site after our Christmas and New Year messages and made contributions to our work.  
In our Christmas and New Years emails we mentioned that when the City of New Orleans calls a Freeze Plan we make room for thirty-four men to spend the night at the Inn in addition to our full house of ninety-six men.  Since New Year’s Day we have been in a Freeze Plan and it will probably continue for a few more nights. 

The VCA’s [Volunteer Corp Assistance who live and work at the Inn] go to action after the last meal is served in the dining room to fold up all of the tables and set up thirty-four cots with a pillow, a sheet and a blanket.  The cots are close together, but they are out of the cold and in a warm and welcoming environment. There is another change in the normal routine at the Inn when the Freeze Plan is in effect.  The men, women and children who are served breakfast, lunch and dinner [approximately 200 meals three times each day] begin lining up well before the meals are served and leave their suit cases, boxes and plastic bags that contain most, or all, of their worldly possessions along the benches in the yard.
 
They spend their time reading, visiting or playing dominos while they wait for meals to be served.  In cold weather such as we are experiencing they leave their possessions in the security of the yard and find shelter in a warm spot, [like the shed at the back of the yard that has a blast furnace that looks and sounds like a jet engine]. We are always trying to make more room at the Inn.  Please visit our others areas of this webpage to learn more about what we do in the name of all Catholics of the Archdiocese of New Orleans for people in need of shelter, food, clothing, medical care, job skills, employment assistance, medical and dental care, and much more.  You can also Make a Contribution to help with our ministry through our secure online services via this Donate Link or click on the “Donations” link on the sidebar.

God bless you,
Deacon G Digiovanni/Deacon Jerry Martinez

Please pass this on to your family and friends and ask them to donate to the Inn.

  “Twas the night before Christmas . . .” and Joseph was frantically looking for shelter for his wife Mary who was about to deliver their first child.  There was no room for them in the inn.  He managed to find space in a cave that was used by shepherds to get shelter and to feed their animals in troughs carved into the walls of the cave.  Bedouin shepherds still do that today 

 We do not even have hills where natural caves might form or be carved into the slope.  But for ninety six- men each night [and thirty-four more when a “Freeze Plan” is declared by the City] Ozanam Inn provides a clean shower, toiletries, a clean pair of pajamas and a clean bed.  For those men, and for many more men and women, Ozanam also provides three hot meals each day, basic medical screening and care, dental care, assistance with socialization, drug and alcohol abuse counseling, in-house employment, job training and employment assistance, and many more services.  The Inn does all of this and more at NO COST to the people it serves. 

Partial news article taken from NOLA.com which appeared in the Living section of the Times-Picayune, New Orleans, La.,  December 14th, 2009.

Monday, December 14, 2009
Nell Nolan
All for one! And “one” for purposeful partying.

With Rob Nelson as the master of ceremonies, the Ozanam Inn Century Club Dinner Gala amassed supporters to the Omni Royal Orleans Hotel to honor Judge Jay C. Zainey for his long service to the Inn, which provides to the needy 500 meals per day, clothing and lodging, medical and legal aid, and spiritual and emotional assistance. All gratis. Tapped, too, for recognition by new board president Fred Kirchgraber (with wife Karen) was outgoing board prez Will Jourdan (with Lois).

To launch the levity (and largesse, since the event raised funds for the Inn), folks assembled for a patron party with jazz guitarist John Rankin and a fine spread of appetizers and libations. Then it was on to the sold-out main event and the 50 coveted silent-auction items, including prints by Garland Robinette and James Michalopoulos; entertainment by the John Mahoney Quartet, featuring vocalist Leif Pedersen, and also flutist/saxophonist Ray Moore; lovely arrangements by Villere’s Florist; club chairman Paul Claudel (with Marion) for the welcome and initial thanks; the invocation by the Rev. Stanley Klores, pastor of St. Patrick’s Church and the Inn’s spiritual adviser; an account of up-to-date operations by Oz administrator Deacon Biaggio DiGiovanni (with Mona); and the introduction of — and words from — honorary chaircouple Donna and John Cummings. Last year, the honor befell retired archbishop Philip M. Hannan, and in 2007, Mr. and Mrs. Sam LeBlanc III.

Rallying for the cause, the special work of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, and the Century Club’s conviviality were Oz Inn board treasurer Louis Frey and Brenda, Agnes Cousins, Robert Pedesco III, Jane Larrouquette, Claiborne and Jeanie Perrilliat, Dave and Lee Daigle, Rachel and Arthur Wisdom, Kathleen Charvet, Ted and Sandra Borgman, retired Judge Oliver and Winny Delery, Carl and Cheril Howat, A.J. and Eileen Capritto, Phil and NooNee Brooks, Cecil and Gail Borne, Peter and Marilyn Quirk, and retired Judge Dennis Waldron.

. . . . . . .

Nell Nolan can be reached at nnolan@timespicayune.com or 504.826.3455.

Forgotten Angels Christmas Party
for children in the New Orleans area.

Saturday, December 19, 2009 -
Franklin Avenue Baptist Church
5290 Canal Blvd – New Orleans, La. 70124

Click here to read Article from the Times-Picayune

Forgotten Angels Christmas Party for children in the New Orleans area  -  5290 Canal Blvd, New Orleans, La. 70124.

Ozanam Inn administrator prepares to refill his sack w/toys for homeless kids.

Please click here to read the article from T.P.’s Sheila Stroup

Our Annual Christmas Day Dinner at the Inn will begin at 12 noon this year.  The meal will consist of a ‘Traditional Christmas Dinner’ with baked turkey, gravy, brocolie and rice stuffing, bread, cranberry sauce, pie or cake for dessert, kool aid for drink.  It is with much hope that Archbishop Aymond will be here to meet and speak with everyone.

This article, written by Peter Finney, Jr., appeared in the December 5, 2009 edition of the New Orleans Clarion Herald.

Please click here to read the article