Community Friends
Key Moments Campaign to
Expand and Sustain Housing
MassMutual Makes a
Difference At our 50th anniversary event last fall, Pine Street Inn announced a campaign to raise $50 million to build,
maintain, support and sustain our housing for the long term. To date, over $39 million has already been raised from our community of extraordinarily generous supporters. Pine Street is increasingly focused on housing as the most effective solution to homelessness. Funds raised through the Key Moments Campaign will help create 200 new units of housing, bringing the total owned or operated by Pine Street to 1,000+ units; fund necessary repairs and improvements to existing housing; establish a source of permanent funding for supportive services; and expand successful pilot programs that move people out of shelter quickly.
We are very grateful to MassMutual, who, as part of a company service day, came in to paint the fences and picnic tables in the Men’s Inn outdoor space. An additional group of volunteers chopped produce for our guests’ dinner. We are grateful for all of their support, including as a leading partner of the Boston’s Way Home Fund.
To learn more about the Key Moments Campaign, and how you can participate, please contact Alicia Ianiere, alicia.ianiere@pinestreetinn.org, 617.892.9177.
Winter 2020
Thanks to a committed group of donors, Turkey Truck organizers provide Pine Street’s guests with vital proteins, critical to their good nutrition. This year’s Turkey Truck provided 100% of all protein served for the year — over 227,000 meals!
“The most rewarding part was seeing the impact of our work,” Ezra commented. “We could all see the baskets coming together and it was really satisfying. Delivering our baskets and meeting guests who were going to benefit was a powerful experience. It’s so rewarding to be a part of something bigger than ourselves.”
A group of doctors from our neighbor, Boston Medical Center, received a grant to train people to use Naloxone for opioid overdoses and demonstrated to our guests how it could save someone’s life. The BMC group talked to the guests about why this is important and answered their questions.
Gets Approval
No matter how extreme the weather, Pine Street’s staff of 17 daytime Outreach counselors walk the same streets as guests, braving the elements to ensure others’ well-being, particularly concerned about frostbite and hypothermia.
Outreach counselors go out on foot to reach vulnerable men and women
As Amanda Proctor, a clinical supervisor who has been doing this work for 13 years, explains, “People may be dealing with a host of issues, from mental illness to substance use disorder, and more. (Continued on page 2)
Robert “Bob” Walsh:
A Tribute
Pine Street Inn recently received approval from the Boston Planning &
Bob Walsh, his wife Karylann,
Development Agency (BPDA) for a major new housing development in Jamaica Plain, the largest of its kind in Boston to date. The 202-unit building will provide housing for 140 men and women moving out of homelessness, as well as 62 families whose units would be income-restricted and managed by The Community Builders.
“These units will allow us to make a significant impact on chronic homelessness in Boston,” said Pine Street President Lyndia Downie.
Why would anyone choose to stay on the street, especially during the harsh Boston winter? That’s a question Pine Street’s Outreach team seeks to answer every day. One could also ask why anyone would choose a job that means canvassing the streets in the bitter cold. It takes a certain kind of dedication to walk the 20,000 to 30,000 steps (roughly 1015 miles) that each team member walks daily.
Ezra, an Eagle Scout, designed his service project for men and women moving into new homes. He organized 15 Welcome Home Baskets full of essentials for move-in day. MassMutual employees pitch in at Pine Street
News from Pine Street Inn
Outreach: Connecting Day and Night
Welcome Basket Drive
Lifesaving Training
Pine Street Housing Development
Innsider
Special Service Project:
“We have come a long way, but we need to stay the course if we are to put homelessness behind us in Boston,” said Lyndia Downie, president and executive director. “We support close to 2,000 men and women each day, with a goal to move them off the street, out of shelter and into the stability of a home. With a 96% retention rate in our housing, we know that housing with support services works.” Boston’s Way Home Fund, launched by Mayor Martin J. Walsh in partnership with Pine Street to raise $10 million for new housing units, is a significant part of the Key Moments Campaign. To date, $8.2 million has been raised, including lead gifts from Bank of America, Liberty Mutual Insurance, Mass Mutual, Massachusetts General Hospital/Brigham Health/Partners HealthCare and Suffolk Cares.
Turkey Truck Provides Protein
Ezra (center) and his family after visiting Pine Street Inn
Innsider Published three times a year by the Development and External Affairs Department Architectural rendering of proposed Jamaica Plain housing
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Staff from Boston Medical Center provided valuable training for our guests
Pine Street Inn 444 Harrison Avenue Boston, MA 02118 General Information: 617.892.9100 Donations: 617.892.9170 Volunteers: 617.892.9184 www.pinestreetinn.org
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Bob and Karylann were honored and their children and grandchildren for 40 years of service a few years could always be seen in our shelters back, and we dedicated stainedglass windows in our Men’s Inn around the holidays, setting up the dining room in their honor. dining room to welcome guests. A few months ago, we were fortunate A true friend to the homeless men enough to talk to Bob about his and women of Boston and to Pine Street Inn for over 40 years, Bob was longtime connection to Pine Street. Below is an excerpt of that committed to bringing hope and conversation: respect to our guests, tenants and trainees. “Over the years, Pine Street has We are deeply saddened by the recent changed in that it’s gone from the ‘a hot and a cot’ (a meal and bed for the passing of this longtime trustee, night) to a much more sophisticated, volunteer, friend and community multiservice organization. leader.
A recent photo of Bob Walsh (second from right) with (left to right), Pine Street President Lyndia Downie and fellow founding board members Vin McCarthy and Msgr. Frank Kelley
At the same time, it has not lost its primary mission of helping the individual. It’s kept that. (Continued on page 2)
