Artist and retired art teacher Nancy Berchtold is no stranger to the gift of giving.

The Penn Forest Township resident founded Depression After Delivery, a postpartum support network, in 1985.

She, along with friends Esther Meier and Mary DiGioia-Bogin are a part of a “groundswell of a local grassroots advocacy group that will watch, work and pray for the completion of a women’s homeless shelter in Carbon County that addresses the need of this vulnerable group of people,” she said.

It was because of a lost cat named Ozzy that Berchtold met her first homeless family.

Berchtold shared her story in an Easter 2021 newsletter for Immaculate Conception Parish at Saint Joseph Church.

The cat belonged to a young woman who lived in a tent at a campground with her baby boy and her mother.

The Berchtold family became involved with the homeless family, who eventually bought a camper that the young woman, pregnant again, her baby, her mother and two brothers shared.

The Berchtolds helped with groceries, gas, warm coats and even put them up in a hotel after they were evicted from the campground. They eventually connected them with the Dorothy Day House and Catholic Charities, which helped them find a home.

Their plight sparked a flame in the Berchtolds to advocate for the homeless.

Berchtold is praying for a way for Family Promise to build a women’s shelter in the church that is next to the former rectory at 140 W. Mill St., Nesquehoning, where the family shelter is now housed.

“The poor stay invisible for many reasons in these hills of Pennsylvania, maybe everywhere,” Berchtold said. “Poverty isn’t pretty but the poor are beautiful.”

DiGioia-Bogin is also passionate about the need for a women’s shelter.

“I spent 30 years teaching war-torn immigrants in a Hispanic city in New Jersey, from El Salvador, Santo Domingo and Nicaragua,” she said. “Many women brought their children to school with worn-out clothing and in need of a safe place to raise their children.”

Meier, her children grown, “felt God calling me to dedicate my time to serving the poor and needy. I would take people to doctor’s appointments, and help out wherever I could.”

Meier got to know Berchtold, Family Promise interim director Jaimie Phelps, and former board member Jen Pantella and DiGioia-Bogin.

The women have met with Family Promise board members and Carbon County Commissioner Chris Lukasevich about the shelter, she said.

Commissioners like the idea, but have delayed releasing $163,000 in state Community Development Block Grant money for a required environmental study until the board has a permanent director.