ST. CROIX — After five years of providing food, shelter, and other essential services to the homeless from a church-owned building in downtown Christiansted without a binding agreement, The Collective Collaboration Inc. is being forced to vacate the space because the church wants its property back — an outcome the nonprofit organization’s founder called a betrayal not of her, but of the people she serves.
St. John’s Episcopal Church allowed The Collective Collaboration to occupy the ground floor of the church’s Parish Hall, which is located directly behind the church on Company Street in Christiansted, next to the entrance to the cemetery.
Karen Dickenson, TCCI founder, who has used the space as a homeless shelter since June 9, 2020, said the church’s former leadership offered her the Parish Hall to provide the services.
“This building has been here dormant for maybe more than three decades,” she said. “We have come and created so much impact to individuals and value to our community. We’ve cleaned the whole town of Christiansted. We’ve done so much as it relates to the homeless, the unsheltered, and overlooked — monumental tasks we have taken to give these individuals value, to make them feel purposeful while living.”
Despite having an understanding with the former leadership of the church, Dickenson said the church’s new leadership took her to court after she invested hundreds of thousands of dollars to refurbish the building.
“I think it’s personal,” she said. “For what reason, I don’t know.”
Dickenson discussed her eviction while holding a small protest today in front of the church on King Street. While discussing reasons she believes the church wanted to evict her, she pointed out the church insisted on having fiduciary control over her nonprofit’s private funding.
“It’s either retaliation, jealousy, but I know most of all it’s money,” she said. “You can’t control my money. I don’t get government assistance.”
St. John’s Episcopal Church, through its junior warden, Derek Joseph, filed an eviction complaint against TCCI in Superior Court on September 12, 2022. The church claimed that the informal agreement it had reached with The Collective Collaboration allowed the nonprofit to utilize the Parish Hall from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday to provide the homeless with meals, showers, clothing, and counseling. Sheltering, however, was not permitted, according to the complaint.
Dickenson disputed the church’s claim that sheltering was prohibited under her initial agreement, maintaining that the church’s new leadership was not familiar with the agreement.
Joseph and Dickenson both testified during a Superior Court virtual hearing on October 3, 2022 before Magistrate Judge Ernest Morris Jr.
Although the parties anticipated the execution of an agreement for use of the Parish Hall in writing, no writing beyond an initial draft ever materialized, according to court documents. Morris noted that Dickenson’s own testimony indicated that she moved forward with sheltering individuals in the space without any specific approval from the church.
While Dickenson contended that the church failed to establish grounds for possession of the property, Morris disagreed, as the church’s intent to recover the premises for its own use was evident, according to court documents. Since the parties did not have a binding agreement, Morris found Dickenson had no equitable claim of ownership to the property. She was given until January 3, 2023 to vacate the premises.
Dickenson appealed on October 25, 2022. On June 20, Superior Court Judge Denise Francois found that Morris did not commit any errors, affirming the initial judgment.
“They won a judgment,” Dickenson said. “We filed an appeal, and after three years, this is, I guess, the judgment of the appeal where the marshal came on Monday and told us we have to leave on Wednesday.”
The Collective Collaboration, through attorney Martial Webster, appealed to the Virgin Islands Supreme Court on July 17.
With just a day left to vacate a space that holds what she estimates to be the contents of at least four apartments, Dickenson said her focus remains on continuing the work.
“We will continue to care for the community,” she said. “We just need to find a next location. It’s not just the people that live here that I serve. We serve from as far east to mid-island. We feed about 200 people every day.”
An attempt to contact St. John’s Episcopal Church for comment was unsuccessful.
