‘Gentle spirit’ Ed McCarron retiring from House of Charity after decades serving the homeless

Ed McCarron once made his boss 45 minutes late for a dinner reservation. McCarron, the longtime director of Spokane’s House of Charity, was walking downtown to a restaurant with Catholic Charities executive director Rob McCann, but kept stopping to talk to homeless people he knew.

“He doesn’t just run the program. He immerses himself in the lives of these people,” McCann said. “For him, the homeless are his close family and friends.”

After 20 years running the House of Charity, McCarron, 61, is retiring in the new year so he can spend more time pursuing hobbies and working on his house. His name has appeared in The Spokesman-Review more than a few times over the years, but the articles are never about him. He shares memories of homeless people who have died suddenly, explains how winter cold snaps are likely to affect the people he serves, and thoughtfully answers questions about mental health care or city policies that affect his clients.

Even with his retirement at hand, he remains reluctant to talk about himself. McCarron only agreed to be interviewed for this story because McCann promised not to throw him a retirement party if he cooperated.

“I’m more about my walk than I am my talk,” he said by way of explanation.

McCarron grew up in New York and served in the Air Force before attending college at Oklahoma State University. He studied finance but decided he wanted to spend a year doing a service program before going into the business world, so he joined the Jesuit Volunteers.

His year-long assignment started in August 1983 at the House of Charity, which was then located in a small building on West Main Avenue. Early on, he made a comment about how busy things were. An older staff member responded, “Well, that’s why they got a young guy.”

That first year helped McCarron develop many of the skills he would later use as director - managing conflicts between clients and remaining calm in the face of crisis. He found he enjoyed the work because of the variety of things he got to do, and continued to volunteer at House of Charity for several more years. Over the next decade, he held a series of jobs around the Pacific Northwest, spending time working for Sears in Tacoma and at SL Start in Spokane.

In 1995, a friend brought him a want ad - the House of Charity was looking for a director. The deadline was the next day, and McCarron rushed to get his resume in shape.

“I just felt I had a calling for it,” he said. It took a pair of two-hour-long interviews, but he’s held the job ever since.

When McCann started his job as executive director of Catholic Charities, he said the bishop told him he needed to go down to the House of Charity to meet McCarron.

“Here’s this guy who is the most quiet, gentle, patient, soft-spoken man I think I’ve ever met in my life… and I remember thinking how the heck can this guy run this program?’ Mc Cann said. Eventually, he realized that it took someone like McCarron to make the House of Charity work.

“He’s all about listening and being present to people and sitting down and talking to the guys. He’s just got this gentle spirit about him,” McCann said. Under McCarron’s leadership, he said the House of Charity has become a “sacred space,” a place where a few hundred homeless people, many of whom live with mental illnesses, can spend time together with a relatively low amount of conflict.

In 2006, Catholic Charities of Spokane started giving out the Donna Hanson award. Named for the organization’s late executive director, the award recognized someone who embodies a spirit of giving and love. McCarron was selected as the winner and was going to be honored at 500-person dinner gala, but he somehow found out he’d won before the ceremony started.

“He realized he was winning the award and what did he do? He leaves,” McCann recalled, laughing. “He goes down to the House of Charity and relieves the front desk people so the front desk people can go to the gala and have dinner.”

The House of Charity wears many hats. It’s a drop-in center for homeless people to spend time during the day as well as an overnight shelter for men. A case manager helps people keep track of appointments and job interviews, and the shelter offers services like laundry, showers, gear storage and a free medical clinic. In a month, McCarron said he sees about 800 individual people use their services.

Though he doesn’t know everyone who stops in for a quick shower, McCarron tries to remember names and faces. He said he’s inspired by the faith many clients show him and the way they look out for each other, alerting staff if someone has a problem or isn’t feeling well.

“There’s a great compassion out here among the homeless,” he said.

McCarron has an inclusive philosophy based on mutual respect and compassion. Starting a fight at House of Charity might get you kicked out, but he welcomes people who are struggling with addiction and mental illness, even if they’re not sober or have disagreements with other residents.

“We’ve always treated this as a community center. It’s open to anyone,” he said. “It can be chaotic, but there’s a balance to it all.”

McCarron’s work is motivated in part by his Catholic faith and said he tries to incorporate the teachings of the Gospel into his work.

“It’s a simple message, I think, the message of the Gospel. We just complicate it, don’t we?” he said.

Contrary to what many people think, McCarron said it’s rare for him to see the same clients year after year. Many homeless people he’s known over the years have gotten jobs or housing and are doing better. A few weeks ago, he ran into a former client who was playing soccer in the University District. The man told McCarron he’d gotten a job at Goodwill and now had a kid.

Over the years, McCarron said the most draining part of his work has been dealing with administration. Grants once funded about half of the center’s annual budget, but now make up only 10 percent, and applying for them is difficult when requirements shift year to year.

“One year homeless is a priority. Three years later, it’s not,” he said. Mental health services remain the bigest unmet need among the people he serves, he said.

By taking a break, McCarron hopes he’ll have more time to go cross-country skiing with friends and ice skating at Riverfront Park. He’ll stay on until a new House of Charity director is selected and trained, but then plans to take some time off.

McCann said after a six-month break, he plans to bring McCarron back to help improve other Catholic Charities programs. But he’s doubtful McCarron will stay away from the House of Charity for long.

“He knows hundreds of homeless people by name and they’ll call him when they need favors,” McCann said. “Spokane has a lot to thank him for in a lot of ways.”