An Introduction to Bokashi Indoor Composting
January 15 at 7 p.m. at St. Martin de Porres Catholic Worker
August: Legal Encampments
St. Martin de Porres Catholic Worker Presents An Introduction to Legal Encampments: A Conversation with Leaders of Peace Village
HARRISBURG, PA
St. Martin de Porres Catholic Worker, in cooperation with Market Square Presbyterian Church, presents a panel discussion with leaders of Peace Village, the first legal encampment in Rochester, New York.
The panel discussion will take place in Market Square Presbyterian Church at 4 p.m. on Saturday, August 16. The panel will consist of Amy D’Amico, Brian Keene, and Matt Smeltzer. Speaker bios are included below.
“We hope that this panel discussion with community organizers who created a legal encampment will help clarify what legal encampments are and are not and provide examples of what they look like in other parts of the country,” said Renée Roden, director of St. Martin de Porres Catholic Worker, “The discussion of legal encampments has become an important part of the conversation as homelessness is at a record high in the United States and communities debate the best way to house citizens.”
According to a 2024 study by The National Alliance to End Homelessness, 86% of Americans do not want to incarcerate and criminalize homelessness as a way to resolve the housing and homelessness crisis. “Recent executive and judicial decisions fly in the face of the will of the majority of American citizens and threaten to harm rather than help the most vulnerable members of our community,” Roden said.
The panel discussion will be moderated by James Murphy, community member at St. Martin de Porres Catholic Worker and a former member of St. Joseph’s Catholic Worker in Rochester, New York.
St. Martin de Porres House has been serving the Allison Hill community in Harrisburg since 1996. It is a member of the global Catholic Worker movement, dedicated to voluntary poverty, solidarity with the poor, and the practice of the Works of Mercy.
Panel Speaker Bios
Amy D’Amico
Bio: In 2014, Amy D’Amico began doing street outreach for unsheltered individuals. As an attorney with lived experience of mental illness, drug addiction, and brief homelessness, she was employed as Lead of the NY-500 Continuum of Care agency, Partners Ending Homelessness, and in that role, designed and implemented a Point in Time Count for Monroe County, which led her to begin doing street outreach on her own. By 2020, she was volunteering with Recovery All Ways, (which became a tier-two clean syringe exchange program in 2025), Rochester Mutual Aid Network, Homes4the Homeless, and other grassroots mutual aid groups. She also assisted two area homeless shelters to address COVID epidemic with a joint venture “homeless hotels” project to decompress emergency shelters and provide safe space for the people most at risk of contracting COVID-19. In 2021, she advocated with The Homeless Union, led by Sister Grace Miller to try and keep the City of Rochester’s Civic Center Garage open that winter, an ‘unofficial warming center’ and de facto no-barrier shelter for anyone in need of a roof and heat. When the County Executive closed it anyway, she helped raise funds to place over 60 people in hotels including food and medical check-ins, a 100% volunteer effort.
As part of that effort, she worked extensively with unsheltered people staying at Peace Village, the city-sponsored homeless encampment in Rochester, NY. Peace Village was a response to the bulldozing of a large self-formed encampment of unhoused individuals, and remains in Rochester today. At that time, it had no heat, electricity, or potable water, and the volunteer-built sheds on site were the only barrier against the cold. Today, Peace Village is in “standby” mode; water pipes and lines of electricity have been installed and “pallet houses” have been purchased by the City for installation. It is hoped that a social services provider will be chosen in time to re-open Peace Village before this coming Winter. In 2024, D’Amico helped found Rochester Grants Pass Resistance after the Supreme Court ruled that municipalities could criminalize sleeping outside, even when there were not enough shelter beds in a community. RGPR does street outreach, outreach trainings, advocates for an end to Sweeps, and promotes low barrier shelters, Housing First apartments, OPCs, sanctioned self-formed encampments, sanctioned spaces/parking lots/warehouses, and housing that allows people to live with dignity.
Brian Keene Bio: Brian Keene has served as the Building & Grounds Manager at House of Mercy in Rochester, New York, for eight years. Born and raised in southeastern Massachusetts, Brian Keene moved to Rochester, NY after college in search of work in the logistics and manufacturing sectors but eventually wound up working for Sister Grace Miller at House of Mercy Rochester after an interesting but uneventful career in the for-profit world.
Brian was an instrumental part in the construction and establishment of the House of Mercy’s present location at 285 Ormond Street- an 84-bed, 20000 square foot shelter, soup kitchen and day center in one of Rochester’s most challenged neighborhoods.
Brian became involved in Rochester’s Peace Village encampment project in 2018, first as a volunteer serving in operations and then as a member of the Board of Directors of Peace Village, Inc. He has served continuously since then, working on the multitudes of challenges running a municipally sanctioned tent encampment poses both before and after COVID. Rochester’s Peace Village project is poised to take a giant leap forward by working with Pallet, Inc. to create a Pallet Village on the site, and Brian will continue to serve on the Board during the transition.
Matthew Smeltzer
Bio: Matthew Smeltzer brings over 25 years of dedicated experience in the human services field. Throughout his career, he has managed four Day Habilitation programs for adults with developmental disabilities, was the Director of Programs at the Open Door Mission, launched a homeless shelter for families, and has been instrumental in helping individuals transition from homelessness to obtaining permanent housing and meaningful employment opportunities.
Matthew’s passion for supporting people extends beyond direct services—he is a sought-after speaker who has presented for organizations including Nazareth University, Xerox, Adult and Teen Challenge, A Better Way Ministries, and the Rochester Police Department.
In addition to his professional work, Matthew is also a talented cartoonist, storyteller, and stand-up comedian. His unique blend of insight and humor makes his presentations not only impactful but genuinely enjoyable. Attendees consistently praise his sessions for being both meaningful and engaging.
March 16 at 7:30 pm – Peter Maurin and the Irish Monks (Compline at 7pm!)
November 21 – The Long Loneliness Book Club Discussion
October 17 – Peter Maurin Conference Update
September 26 – Mary Frecon and the Roots of the Harrisburg Catholic Worker
July 24 – The Roots of the Catholic Worker