[Slideshow by Adi Talwar. For more photos from Adi Talwar, click here.]

New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan, who just last week was elevated to the post of cardinal by Pope Benedict XVI, came to the Bronx yesterday to visit local nonprofit Part of the Solution (POTS), taking a tour and officially blessing the organization’s new building on Webster Avenue.

“This is what it’s all about–God giving us gifts, and us giving those gifts to others, which is what you do here at POTS,” Dolan said to the crowd gathered in the lobby of the sparkling new facility, as he read a blessing and sprinkled the space with holy water.

POTS originated as a small soup kitchen on Fordham Road in 1982, then moved to Webster Avenue, and has since blossomed into a multi-purpose center offering hot meals, food pantry services, hair cuts, showers and legal advice to Bronx residents in need. POTS’ new, much larger facility at 2759 Webster Ave. has been operational since this fall, but the group held its official ribbon-cutting ceremony for the space last week on its 30th anniversary.

Dolan called POTS an “effective, loving, warm home.” He toured the new building, greeting excited staff, volunteers and clients with handshakes and pats on the back before joining them for a meal in the community dining room.

“It’s a wonderful day for the people who are guests here,” said Sister Jane Iannucelli, a member of the Sisters of Charity of New York who originally helped found POTS. “His coming here to bless POTS means that we are important.”

As Archbishop, Dolan oversees the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York, covering hundreds of parishes and over 2 million congregants. He will officially be elevated to Cardinal in February, a title that places him in an elite group with the power to elect a new pope should the current one die.

“He’s not a bad guest to have,” quipped POTS board chairman Donn Dolce.

Michael Bradley, a POTS clients for almost 15 years, shook hands excitedly with Dolan. He said it was his second time meeting the archbishop, who came to a Thanksgiving dinner Bradley attended last year.

“He blessed me and everything,” he said.

Bradley was homeless for over a decade before he found POTS, he said, and the staff there is now “like family.”

“POTS filled my life,” he said.

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Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.