Noelle Bellow with KRON4
For more than 50 years, St. Mary’s Center has been embedded in the West Oakland community. This year, amid major upgrades to the center and plans for a third transitional housing facility, volunteers are staying busy. St. Mary’s specifically focuses on the elderly who need assistance, they say seniors are the fastest growing segment of the unhoused community in California. The Senior Advocates for Hope and Justice, made up of St. Mary’s Council of Elders, meet up regularly to discuss how they will campaign for policies at all levels of government to help the homeless. (KRON4, July 9, 2025)