- Vida Medical Clinic and Support Services has been serving the Appleton community for nearly 40 years. Vida is now launching a unique program called Trinity House, the first maternity home in the area.
- This residential housing program aims to address the urgent issue of affordable housing, particularly affecting single mothers, by providing a supportive environment for moms and babies, offering parent education, support materials, and the opportunity to set personal goals.
- Trinity House is set to open on October 30th, and it has already gotten interest from mothers seeking a community and safe place to call home.
(The following is a transcription of the full broadcast story)
Vida has been supporting the Appleton community for around 40 years. They offer a medical clinic and support service for those that need it, and now they're going to be adding a program that will be the first of its kind in the area. I’m Olivia Acree your Appleton neighborhood reporter, telling you about the Trinity House.
“The heart of what we do is parent education,” said Vida's executive director, Anne Tretinyak.
Something we hear all too frequently is the lack of affordable housing. Vida combined that issue with their parent education services and started something new.
“We decided to take this leap of faith to start this residential housing program,” said Tretinyak.
Anne Tretinyak is Vida's executive director.
“This particular crisis is hitting single moms particularly hard. If they can find housing, they're lucky. If they can afford housing, they're blessed,” said Tretinyak.
They want to be part of the solution. With the community’s help, they purchased Trinity House, and fixed and furnished it in a matter of months.
“Trinity house is the first maternity home in this area. The first program that really uniquely addresses the needs of moms and babies,” said Tretinyak.
Trinity house opens on October 30th but moms or soon to be moms have already been applying to live there.
“Before we obviously were even open, we've had over two dozen women calling inquiring about housing,” said house manager, Claire Hoslet.
House manager Claire Hoslet says twelve moms will be able to call Trinity House home.
During their stay, moms will meet with a mentor to work on parent education, receive support material like diapers, wipes, clothes, all necessities, and work on setting goals for themselves.
“Our residents will, when they're walking in, feel relieved, you know, when we walk them to their bedroom. The wraparound support and having someone there for them and genuinely caring about them and wanting to walk alongside them. They'll just feel the love of the community that they are able to live in this beautiful home and call it their home,” said Hoslet.
Vida says they’ll need help from the community to make this programming everything they want it to be. We’ll have a link on NBC 26.com to find out how you can help.
