Our inspiration has always been about building community. Community starts inside the walls of a Dismas house among staff and residents; volunteers are invited from the community into our homes, and the positive tides we turn together ripple out into the regions in which we serve and the families we touch. It’s being in community that is the “secret sauce” that has held us together for forty years.
The year was 1984, when a small group of prison volunteers from Burlington and I from Rutland were convened to consider what else the community might offer to an often-forgotten slice of our community: the incarcerated. We had been teaching a well-received course in decision-making skills and problem-solving to people in prisons for ten years, a program that grew from Rutland to Burlington, Woodstock, St. Johnsbury, and Windsor.
This spirited volunteer group first considered a Prison Chaplaincy, an idea that was denied. I brought a flipchart to the next meeting to help us brainstorm what else we might offer. Someone suggested post-prison housing. It was then that I remembered that in 1980 my husband and I had given a Decisions Training in Memphis to prospective volunteers, where our friend and prison volunteer, Rev. Art Kirwin, OP, had invited us to his parish community. One of the trainees was Rev. Jack Hickey, OP, Chaplain at Vanderbilt University, who founded the Nashville Dismas House with students in 1974.
Our local volunteer group embraced the Dismas concept and, well, the rest is history. It would take almost two years to open the first house, a project of great interest to the community, college students, and, of course, our friend Jack Hickey, who was our mentor and task master. He made several trips from Nashville to speak to the Vermont Department of Corrections, faith communities, service clubs, house parties, colleges, and the local news. Our initial group of ten evolved into several committees and, eventually, a Board of Directors. And our faithful, generous donors have believed in us from the very beginning, opening their hearts and sharing their treasure.
We first opened the Burlington Dismas House on Buell Street in 1986, happy with our result, never dreaming that Dismas would grow to five houses across Vermont—despite numerous court cases—and then launch Step-Down Housing to further address barriers to permanent, independent housing for those we serve.
It’s been quite a ride to see how many folks have embraced our mission of reconciliation, working diligently to open and sustain their local house. From the very beginning, my dear late husband, Frank McCaffrey, was always the “wind beneath my sail,” driving me to meetings, stuffing envelopes, and encouraging me every step of the way. I also owe special thanks to two retired House Directors from the original house in Burlington, who were with us for 35+ years: Richard Gagne and Kimberly Parsons. They gave me strength and added greatly to our program quality and longevity.
Dismas of Vermont is deeply grateful to the hundreds of volunteers, staff, and donors who have had faith in us and have worked with us to make Dismas of Vermont the organization it is today, a beacon of hope to residents and the communities who support them in Vermont and beyond.
