Sister Carla Recalls Decades of Growth and Outreach

Our Board of Directors last month bid farewell to Sister Carla Kovack, who joined 22 years ago when Homeward Bound of Marin had just four programs and our New Beginnings Center shelter was two years old.

“Serving on the board has been an incredible experience and I’ve enjoyed being an ambassador who can tell the story in the community,” Sister Carla says. Her tenure overlapped her professional career, which included teaching, directing the campus ministry at Dominican University and leading the Dominican Sisters of San Rafael as Prioress General.

During her service, she advocated for our programs at countless public hearings as Homeward Bound created more than 150 units of supportive housing along with  mission-based businesses that employ graduates of our Fresh Starts Culinary Academy. She also led the Dominican Sisters to become ongoing supporters of our work. (In the photo, Sister Carla holds a share certificate for the “nonprofit IPO” that helped build our Next Key Center.)

She remembers each year brought a stronger sense of purpose for Homeward Bound as an organization. “It’s not about just getting someone off the streets. It’s about opening the pathway and finding them a home,” she says.

Her early interest in solving homelessness came during a summer that she lived in a Los Angeles shelter for women and children, seeing how each family faced individual barriers to stability and met obstacles that many people never see. “It was an all-day trip to see the doctor, for example. For many people, there’s no safety net,” Sister Carla adds.

Her departure comes with high hopes for Homeward Bound to develop more paths to housing in Marin. “I’m looking for my encore now, as an active volunteer in their programs,” Sister Carla says. “There’s a lot more to come from Homeward Bound.”