By Rita McInerney

A "miracle the Holy Spirit has wrought" will be on public view Sunday, June 14, when Gwinnett Harbour House is dedicated as the first shelter for the homeless in Gwinnett County. This is how Frances Manchester describes a dream become reality through a working partnership of Vincentians, churches, businesses and government.

For some time Mrs. Manchester, a member of St. Lawrence parish in Lawrenceville, had her eye on a cottage on Pike Street in Lawrenceville. In her vision the little home was transformed into a refuge for families banished to society's brink.

Each time she and her husband David drove past she expressed this dream. When it finally became empty she asked her supportive husband if he would ask the owners "if we can have it." "We" was the St. Vincent de Paul Society at St. Lawrence.

"My wife wants this for a shelter," David Manchester told one of the owners, Lou Camero, a partner in the firm of Cam-El Builders and Developers. "You can have it but you have to move it," came back the reply from Mr. Camero. This was February, 1985.

Now the St. Lawrence SVDP had a house, an urgent need for a plot of ground and money to pay for the relocation. Mrs. Manchester was convinced that "the Holy Spirit wanted this shelter," so the campaign began.

The SVDP wrote about 100 letters to businesses and influential people in the county, asking for a small piece of land to put the house on. Finally, David Manchester went to Bartow Jenkins, a county commissioner. "I'll put you on the agenda," he promised and was faithful to his word.

Mrs. Manchester went before the commissioners six times and found Lillian Webb, chairman, and the other board members "very receptive to our needs" for a house site. She was taken around to inspect various available properties. Finally it was agreed that a county owned plot on High Hope Lane outside the city limits would be suitable. Nearby are the Red Cross building and the county police department and jail.

Bolstered by a commitment from the SVDP at St. John Neumann parish in Lilburn to pay for moving the cottage the relocation was accomplished Oct. 21, 1985. The five-mile trip didn't take long once the workmen got the house off its foundation on Pike Street.

Now the cottage was in its new home on ground leased from the county at one dollar a year for 10 years. About 40-years-old, the one-floor frame structure has a large living room, dining room, kitchen, laundry, two good-sized bedrooms and a bath. Much renovation was needed before it could be opened as a shelter for families living in their old cars and existing between night shelters in Atlanta and the street.

More and more groups joined the partnership of SVDP and county government. Before the project would be completed, 225 businesses, agencies and individuals would help either with money or donations of materials and labor to transform the rundown hose into a cheerful, light-filled dwelling.

"Everybody put a part of themselves into it," said Lou Adkinson, a member of St. Lawrence parish and secretary of the Harbour House advisory board. A big contribution was made by Stoffle Construction in Lawrenceville which agreed to oversee the entire renovation, working with the volunteer workmen and persuading other firms in the building trade to donate roofing, tiles and other essentials. Members of the Stoffle family, parishioners at St. John Neumann, also volunteered in the sprucing up of the house.

David Manchester was responsible for involving the firm of Jackson E.M.C. which rewired the house at no cost. Manchester Enterprises, his own firm, contributed the paved driveway and parking area outside the neat bungalow one painted beige with red trim.

Months before the house was moved, on July 16, 1985, a meeting was held at the Manchesters' home. Present were Betti Knott, director of the Atlanta Council of SVDP, Jim Needham, president of its board of directors, and representatives from every agency in Lawrenceville. The SVDP council agreed to take the project under its umbrella and Ms. Knott was successful in getting a $4,000 grant from United Way.

"The only way Harbour House was going to be successful was to get everybody involved," Ms. Knott said last week.

Other churches were willing to help, Mrs. Manchester said. "The First United Methodist Church of Lawrenceville helped us a great deal financially," with money to pay a plumber for kitchen cupboards, and toward the $2,000 permit fee required before the building could be moved.

SVDP members and other parishioners at St. Lawrence gave "abundantly of time, energy and money," Mrs. Manchester said. Other area churches generously giving money included St. Matthew's Episcopal in Snellville, Christ Church in Norcross, and Christ the Lord Lutheran in Duluth.

A board of directors led by Mrs. Manchester as president, and Jack Connolly, president of the St. John Neumann SVDP, as vice president, met regularly at the Salvation Army in Lawrenceville.

Among the many drawn into the helping orbit as the renovation progressed were the AT&T Telephone Pioneers. This group became a major benefactor, donating the heating and air-conditioning system. Members painted, put up a ceiling and held a benefit to raise funds. "We couldn't begin to tell all they have done for us." Mrs. Adkinson commented. "We only had to call and ask."

Churches were willing to support the shelter because they were well aware of the homeless problem in Gwinnett County. Many of the reported 1,700 homeless in the county last year were assisted by these caring congregations. "The churches work together, pool their resources." Mrs. Manchester said. They usually shelter people in need at the Lawrenceville Motor Inn where the cost runs about $45 per night.

"The state Department of Human Resources couldn't believe that in affluent Gwinnett there could be homeless people," Mrs. Manchester said. There are families living in cars after coming to the booming area for jobs, and DHR sent representatives to the county to assess the homeless problems it provided a $6,000 grant for Harbour House through the United Way.

Even before renovations to the little house were finished, the board received from the county a $150,000 community development block grant to be used for a two-story addition. And an application for an additional $135,000 CDBG for the addition has been made. This added space will have facilities for the handicapped on the first floor along with bedrooms and three baths on the second floor and a full basement for storing donated furniture and clothing.

"We will be needing a lot of furniture" for the addition Mrs. Manchester noted. But having come this far, she is confident all needs will be met. "Any Vincentian is a good beggar," a reality she has learned over six involved years. She would like to see everyone do some SVDP work, so devoted a believer is she in the philosophy and works of the society.

Each family will live in the house two weeks, enough time, the board felt, for the head of the family to earn that first paycheck needed for rent money. The families will be referred by the churches and the Department of Family and Children's Services. Referring groups will be responsible for the initial screening of the family.

"We are asking each church or group to commit for a week. They'll be asked to provide a meal a day, and 24-hour staffing" during the week, Mrs. Manchester said.

While the family is living at the house there will be access to resources to help them get their life in order. If transportation is needed, volunteers will take them to Family and Children's Services for counseling and to the nearby Gwinnett Medical Center.

"There will be a shoulder to cry on," Mrs. Manchester said, "food, shelter, clothing and job placement." They need to "cry and get it out, they're going through a traumatic period. Any one of us could be homeless next week."

Since it is "the very first shelter for Gwinnett, people will have to have patience with us. It will work out."

For a woman who "doesn't know how anyone gets along without faith" it has worked well so far because she believed the Holy Spirit wanted it. When she remarks that "We could use 15 of these little houses around the county," one wonders what she and the Holy Spirit will take on next.