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Matt Smith recalled the dramatic change in a 24-year-old man who once slept in the streets of San Rafael. Smith, a program manager for St. Vincent de Paul Society of Marin, saw him seeking help at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting.

The staff at St. Vincent later placed him into a sober living program. “He now looks like a totally different person,” Smith said.



He added that the client reconnected with his family and is undergoing mental health treatment. “When we met him he was literally sleeping outside and he was asked to leave our kitchen because he was yelling at everyone at that moment,” Smith said. “Now, he’s over there socializing.

” The client is among 60 people whom Smith helped get into sober living environments since December, said Kathleen Woodcock, St. Vincent’s chief philanthropy officer. Such assistance is among numerous services to be offered at St.

Vincent’s new “housing help desk” center at 747 B St., half a block away from the nonprofit’s free dining room in San Rafael. The facility is set to open to the public on Wednesday.

“It’s the front door for services for people experiencing homelessness in this county, whether they’re chronically homeless or newly homeless,” said Meredith Parnell, St. Vincent’s chief programming officer. A housing help desk staff member assesses the clients’ needs and then connects them to services such as rental housing assistance, bus tickets, gasoline funds for those living in their vehicles, and .

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