Homeless day shelter serves hot meal for those seeking refuge from cold on Christmas
Dec. 26—SCRANTON — Scott Frantz spent Christmas dishing up plates for those he considers family.
Through the early afternoon, he served ham, roast beef and turkey with all the trimmings to a steady stream of people at the Community Intervention Center on North Sixth Avenue, a day shelter for the homeless that marked its 50th year in July.
For Frantz, it's a measure of giving back to a center that helped get him out of a tent years ago and, in November, gave him a place to stay after the building he lived in was condemned by city inspectors.
"This is my family here," said Frantz, 54. "Being alone is not good."
Frantz and Melissa Costello, a supportive housing case manager, arrived early Sunday to begin preparing the day's food in the center's oven. By about 1 p.m., dozens filled the center's day room for plates of hot food, dessert and an opportunity to get out of the cold.
Those experiencing homelessness regularly pack the CIC, said Jason Griffiths, a social worker and permanent supportive housing case manager.
Between 60 and 80 people come through each day. Sometimes there's more.
"Our dayroom is full," he said Friday. "It's been full for weeks. We have to pull chairs from the other room."
Shelter from the weather is a blessing, said Blaine Houck, 63. As he finished a plate with Deborah Chandler, 56, he said they have stayed at St. Anthony's Haven, an overnight shelter on Olive Street run by Catholic Social Services of the Diocese of Scranton.
Some still sleep in tents, even as the temperatures dip into the single digits.
"It won't be forever," Houck said. "We'll get out of it."
Frantz received assistance from the CIC for housing roughly a decade ago when he lived in a tent. He has volunteered his time at the shelter since.
In November, housing trouble struck again. Frantz, a former resident of 1513-1515 Vine St., found himself displaced by a condemnation notice taped to the building's front door in the wake of a drug overdose in the building that claimed the lives of two men.
The center provided him lodging within a double-block home. He donates his time each day to doing odd jobs in the center.
On Sunday, part of that job included serving pie to Francisco Rodriguez, a 75-year-old native of Puerto Rico who has been in the Scranton area for 14 years.
Rodriguez expressed a sense of gratitude he could be there Sunday.
"I thank God for my life," he said.
Contact the writer: jkohut@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9100, x5187; @jkohutTT on Twitter.
