By Ann Mostue

It’s a weekday morning in the basement of Old South Church in Copley Square. About 50 people are sitting on couches and chairs, chatting and eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. A 53-year-old man named John is reading a novel.

“I’ve been coming here for about 2 weeks, since it opened. It’s terrific. Because of the heat and the food and the cots.”

A woman named Denise eyes six cots covered with wool blankets. They’re behind a curtain in the back of the room.  

“They’re wonderful. I came in yesterday and I was tired, but I ended up sleeping for like 4 hours in the back. It was really nice. I haven’t been able to do that since I’ve been in this position.”

Denise says she’s been homeless since Christmas, and that it’s hard to sleep in an overnight shelter. But the atmosphere here is pleasant, quiet even. This is one of two warming shelters in the city – the other’s at Emmanuel Church. They’re open to anyone who needs to come in from the cold, but they’re closed at night. 

... Read more at WGBH's website.

By Rector Phil LaBelle
... 

"I’m not sure if Tom is the first homeless person to worship at St. Mark’s, but I do know he’s the first who came and was given a microphone to tell his story. I know for certain he’s the first homeless person I’ve had over for a meal at my home even though the Bible is pretty clear I should be doing that regularly. Tom reminded us all that he’s just another human being on this journey of life needing companionship and conversation like any of us.

"I don’t know if I’ll ever see Tom again, or what he’ll be doing tonight when the temperature once again falls below zero. But I do know this: he reminded me of the power found in Joseph Burnett’s words. All of us are God’s children regardless of the ways we label people in our world. All are welcome into God’s loving embrace. And I know that on a snowy Sunday morning for a few hours a group of parishioners got to know an intriguing and caring man who just happened to no longer have a place to call home. He became Tom to us, a beloved child of God."

Read more at: RamblingPriest.com

By Kristin Toussaint

“We know that many of the people that come to the warm centers have never had that opportunity — to be somewhere warm and safe — for many years,” said June Cooper [City Mission Society]. “Many people have been sleeping [at other shelters like Pine Street Inn and Rosie’s Place], but they have to get up and out real early, some folks have told me by 6 a.m..”

Boston Warm was initially slated to operate until March, but Cooper said they’re having meetings about the need to keep the day shelters open for an additional month.

“We know that the resources that the city is putting in place will take longer than anticipated,” Cooper said.


read more at Boston.com. 

by Beth Healy

Time stopped in October for two drug treatment centers on Boston’s Long Island, when the city shut down the bridge that was the only route to their facilities.

Both had to abandon their offices on the island. Their clients — poor and trying to kick drug habits — had to seek alternative services. Hundreds of thousands of dollars in funding for treatment have been lost.

Now, the problems have multiplied. The centers filed insurance claims under their “business interruption” policies, expecting to recover enough money to set up new service sites. Their claims were rejected.

Read more at BostonGlobe.com. 

by Deborah Becker 

While Boston continues to deal with mountains of snow andextreme cold, the city is also grappling with an even larger than usual number of homeless people.

... 

One way they’re trying to do that is by reopening what’s known as the Boston Night Center, a downtown refuge of last resort for those who live on the streets. Dozens of people have been coming to the night center, which is open from 8:30 p.m. to 6:30 a.m. every day, to get warm, get a meal and sometimes get medical attention from Dr. Jim O’Connell, president of Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program.

“The nighttime drop-in center is designed to take in the people who, for whatever reasons, won’t go or can’t go to the shelter,” O’Connell said.

...


one condition that O’Connell and other medical professionals in Boston are having a tough time treating is substance abuse. When Boston officials closed the bridge to Long Island in October and shuttered the city’s largest homeless shelter on the island, they also closed substance abuse facilities — including Andrew House, the city’s largest detoxification unit. It typically served about 100 people a week and often referred them to further treatment.

“Almost all of these people were in Andrew House at some point,” O’Connell said. “So some people would now be in detox with the hope of going on to further treatment. Now, none of that is happening. By the time morning comes, they’re so sick, they want to go and drink or whatever and they can’t make it to the detox. Even if they did find detox, there’s no place to send them so they’re back after four or five days. So that system has just fallen apart, right at a time when such focus has been on avoiding the drug overdoses.”

Some estimates suggest that Boston lost about 60 percent of its substance abuse treatment beds when the Long Island bridge was closed for safety reasons.


Read more at WBUR.org. 

By Rev. Stephen O. Voysey and Rev. Christen H. Mills

WickedLocal.com WESTON
TO THE EDITOR:

On Oct. 8, 2014, the bridge to Long Island in Boston Harbor was closed due to safety concerns. Within hours, nearly 700 men and women who had been staying in the Long Island Shelter were displaced.

In response, an interfaith coalition called Boston Religious Leaders for the Long Island Refugees was formed to support those who had previously called Long Island their home.

One thing the coalition heard from those who were displaced was that there was an urgent need for a warm, safe, welcoming place to be during the day.http://www.stpetersweston.org

In response, the coalition addressed this critical need by opening two temporary day warming shelters – one at Old South Church in Copley Square and one at Emmanuel Episcopal Church on Newbury Street. These shelters provide unhoused men and women a place to go where they are welcome, safe and warm.

In addition to serving coffee, tea, and snacks, they provide a place where homeless men and women can find community, support and rest.

Both of the clergy at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Weston have been actively involved in these efforts. The Rev. Stephen Voysey, rector of St. Peter’s, has been a member of the coalition, Boston Religious Leaders for the Long Island Refugees, since its beginnings in October.

The Rev. Christen Mills, assistant priest at St. Peter’s, was hired in January to be the site director of the Boston Warm @ Emmanuel Day Shelter. She serves in this capacity in addition to her work at St. Peter’s, where she focuses on ministry to children, youth and families.

Members of the parish have also become involved by donating goods, giving financial support, and signing up as volunteers.

To learn how you can join us in this important work, or to see a list of the most urgently needed donations, go online (https://bostonwarm.weebly.com).

Donations can be delivered to the office at St. Peter’s Church between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. on Tuesday to Friday. – Rev. Stephen O. Voysey, rector, and Rev. Christen H. Mills, assistant for Christian formation, St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, Boston Post Road, Weston (www.stpetersweston.org)

"... The new warming centers may represent a change in the landscape of helping others: “It’s a shift to a more immediate experience,” says Layzer “We’re not just writing checks, we’re not just lobbying for justice. We’re taking the risk of having encounters and relationships.” It’s a shift toward hands-on community building and involvement.

BostonWarm at Old South offers snacks and coffee and can accommodate about 30 to 40 people at a time. It also provides 100 overnight storage lockers. The day space was put together in about nine days, including fundraising—an estimated $40,000 for the Old South and Emmanuel sites. ..."

Read more at SpareChangeNews.net.