By Madeline Strong-Diehl

Every Saturday for the past five years, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., it’s breakfast time at Peggy’s house, where she cooks pancakes for whoever happens to show up that week. Most of Peggy’s guests are old friends of hers—in fact, it’s always a family reunion of sorts. But there are almost always new people, too—most of whom feel welcome the minute they walk through the door. That’s because extending simple hospitality is the central goal of Peggy’s house, one of five Catholic Worker houses in Michigan and 178 in the U.S.

“The reason our guests feel welcome here is because they see people who look like them scrambling the eggs and cooking the bacon,” Peggy explained. “We are building community. This is not “charity” where there’s a power imbalance, where the “helpers” are the powerful ones and the receivers are “less than” (them). When a homeless person walks through that door, they see other people from the homeless community pitching in and doing the work, and they think, ‘I can be the one who cooks and washes the dishes, too. I don’t always have to be the needy one.’”

Peggy says that she’s especially proud that African-Americans feel welcome at Mercy House. “This required us to actively reach out to them and include them in the leadership of the community. It took effort over time.” At Peggy’s house, homeless African-Americans (and others) not only receive the basic necessities of food, clothing, and shelter, they can also find support from friends and peers who can offer advice and a listening ear.

With a J.D. from the U-M Law School, Peggy herself is a well-coiffed woman with auburn hair and hazel eyes, and by day she works in the legal department at a Detroit-area corporation. But there’s a big difference between Peggy and many other people who are involved in work with the homeless. That’s because after work, Peggy returns to a home that she shares with homeless people, and she has voluntarily given up almost all of her valuable possessions to follow in the tradition of Dorothy Day, one of the social activists who established the Catholic Worker Movement in the 1930s. Peggy is a testament to the fact that the movement is still alive and well, and people like her combine a radical personal commitment to aid the poor and homeless and also take part in nonviolent direct action on their behalf.

As might be expected, Peggy did not suddenly make this commitment overnight. In fact, she says that at the age of 37, she was a “total workaholic” who had worked as a partner in her own law firm for fifteen years and, by most worldly measures, was leading a very successful life. “But I was raising my two girls, and one day I was driving home from work and I started sobbing so hard I had to pull the car over. I had been working so hard for so long that I had no friends, and I just felt so lonely, so empty. I knew I was a good parent, but that was the only thing I had besides work.”

So Peggy began doing volunteer work, and eventually she was introduced to the homeless community known as “Camp Take Notice” (CTN) by her spiritual mentor, Father Dan Reim, a Jesuit priest at St. Mary’s parish in Ann Arbor.

“Dan took me to the place in the woods [on Wagner Road] where all these homeless people were living in tents, and I met Caleb there, and I just fell in love—with Caleb, and with the homeless people, and with Camp Take Notice. I watched Caleb help facilitate a discussion they were all having, and I couldn’t believe how polite they were and respectful toward each other. You see, Caleb had taught them how to make decisions based on Robert’s Rule of Order—that’s right. These homeless people were handling their disagreements better than most of the employees you’d find at a corporation. Talk about finding a unicorn! Here was this man in the forest who was genius-smart, wise, compassionate, open-hearted, and fully-human, and he had given up his life’s ambition to become an ER physician because he felt God had called him to live among the homeless and advocate for them.”

And yes, that was the beginning of the fairy tale, of how Peggy and Caleb fell in love and now help each other welcome the homeless people of the Ann Arbor area into the home they share together. While Peggy’s away at work during the day, Caleb provides a consistent presence at the house—and Peggy says in addition to all of Caleb’s remarkable personal qualities, he has ten years of experience as an EMT. “And that really comes in handy because a lot of people come in with blisters all over their feet from constantly being on the move, and Caleb gets them all fixed up.”

Peggy says it’s impossible for her and other residents and volunteers to cure the worst medical challenge that homeless people face—the kind of intense social isolation that leads to depression and other mental illness. But Peggy says they can still do lots of little things to mitigate the problem. “Some people come in here smelling pretty bad, and that can be a big part of social isolation,” Peggy explained. “So their friends will just say, ‘Hey! You need a shower!’ And it’s no big deal. And we give them fluffy towels, shampoo, soap, a toothbrush, razor…whatever they need. Most importantly, we give them clean clothes so they have something to change into when they’re done, and then they have a chance to do their laundry.”

Peggy says her two daughters supported her in her decision to establish a Catholic Worker House. “They know it gives me joy and meaning,” she said. She added that it was difficult at first to give away most of her possessions. “After I raised my two girls, I was still very attached to stuff, like the rocking chair I used to rock them in, and the baby quilt I made while I was pregnant. But now that kind of stuff means less to me.”

What is the most important thing that she can offer to the people she opens up her home to? “A lot of them tell me this is the first place they feel accepted since they became homeless,” Peggy said. “A lot of people ask how I can do this, and I have learned that fear is the enemy, and fear is contagious. And the opposite feeling—hospitality—is also contagious. I have decided that I am not going to let fear rule my life. When people see someone who is acting out of their deepest self, they are electrified, and they are calmed, and feel that they can be welcoming, too. People are almost relieved, and think, ‘This is really who I am! I can finally reconnect with myself.’ This is most important for the homeless people who come here—this community gives them a sense of agency, it opens up a way for them to create meaning for themselves through serving others.”

Gracie is just one such person. Tall and graceful, with long blonde hair and emotionally sensitive facial expressions, she began volunteering as an organizer at Mercy House one year ago after living in the Delonis Center for about a year. “I always wanted to be that person who had a voice and could advocate for others,” said Gracie. “But I didn’t have a voice my entire life until I had been coming to Mercy House for a while. Then I realized, I am that person. Here I am accepted as family, and I can express my need to take care of and nurture others. This has changed the whole trajectory of my life.”

Peggy says one of the most meaningful gifts she and others in the community have received came from taking care of four people who lived in hospice at Mercy House and then died there. “One of them wrote me a letter that said, ‘Thank you for giving me a way to contribute and find meaning (before I died).’”

Mercy House (otherwise known as “Peggy’s House” and “Ann Arbor Peace House”) is a private residence, not a 501(c)3. To help cover the costs of food, clothing, and shelter that it provides for its guests, people can donate to the 501(c)3: M.I.S.S.I.O.N. AA, Michigan Itinerant Shelter System—Interdependent Out of Necessity. Please see missiona2.org/take-action.html.