SPRING 2021 A Year Like No Other Our President on Making Our Path Together How You Can Help Our Generous Community of Friends
NEWS
A Mother’s Day Gift Idea of Note Safe & Sound Chef Showcase
A Year Like No Other
The past year has been one of challenge and change for us all. But throughout this pandemic, Rosie’s Place’s doors have remained open, and our welcome constant. Every day, we offer comfort, compassion and consistency to poor and homeless women who all too often, but especially this past year, live in uncertainty, wondering: Where will I sleep? What will I eat? Where can I be safe? For these women, thanks to friends like you, Rosie’s Place provides unequivocal answers with unconditional love, sustenance and sanctuary.
food pantry
In response to the dire hunger crisis created by the pandemic, our Food Pantry doubled its capacity. Not only can women now visit our Pantry more frequently—once a week as opposed to once monthly—but we serve more women overall through this program. We provide fresh meat, dairy, fruits, vegetables, non-perishable staples, household supplies and face masks to 250 women each day to help feed the more than 700 members of their households. For safety’s sake, we moved our Pantry distribution to the ground-level windows of our Women’s Education Center, where guests can receive their groceries from a healthy distance on the sidewalk. According to the most recent data from Feeding America, Massachusetts has seen the greatest percentage increase in food insecurity in the country due to the pandemic—a stunning 59%. We meet the faces behind these stats every day.
Annette, who has housing but now must work even harder to keep it and get by, relies on our Pantry. With her daughter and two grandsons who’ve recently moved in with her—she’s feeling the strain of feeding a larger family. The fresh produce and non-perishable groceries Annette receives help her to make ends meet for one more week.
overnight shelter
In March 2020, we extended indefinitely, the stays of the 20 women in our Overnight Shelter. This continuity and stability has been integral in keeping our guests and staff well. Should women secure other housing and move out, we have established quarantine and testing procedures to ensure new guests are safely introduced to the established community. Responding to the isolation imposed by the pandemic, we have been sure to provide our guests with engaging activities and outlets, offering them iPads, access to Mental Health Specialists, books, art supplies, online exercise classes and through our partnership with Berklee College of Music, online music therapy classes.
emergency services
Every day we welcome hundreds of poor and homeless women in need and many, in despair—feeling overlooked and overwhelmed during this pandemic. For these women, we are a lifeline, providing help with their most basic and critical needs which include medical screenings, showers, lockers, clean clothing, daytime shelter and healthy meals and snacks throughout the day. After spending the night in a park, Norma Jean is at our door at 7AM. She desperately needs refuge from the streets, a place to wash up, a hot meal to eat. She receives all these things and more at Rosie’s Place—taking solace in the peace, welcome and kindness she finds with us by day. The constancy of our services remains critical, most especially for women like Norma Jean.
advocacy & legal programs
Last March, we ramped up our advocacy efforts and quickly pivoted our services, establishing a remote Call Center so that our staff, who work with guests on wide ranging issues from back rent and utility arrearages to mental health support, legal advice, and job and housing searches—are able to help women with whatever they need, from wherever they are when they call us. Our Legal Program regularly works in tandem with Advocates, to help women with a host of housing issues made even more complex by the pandemic, including those related to the eviction crisis. Often challenged by language and technology, and experiencing harassment from landlords and debtors—our guests feel alone and afraid. In addition to providing financial assistance to avoid eviction, we ensure that they understand their rights, help them with online applications and Zoom court dates and advocate on their behalf with the courts, landlords and debtors.
In this year like no other, you helped Rosie’s Place to remain an essential sanctuary. A community of compassion. A place like no other. Thank you.
our president / ceo on making our path together Dear Friend: As the saying goes, we make our path by walking it. And for the past year—together—we have forged quite a path. Never before in our 47-year history has Rosie’s Place’s mission been more critical. And never before has it been tested in the ways that it has been during this pandemic. The world has always been an unsafe place for poor and homeless women—there are dangers inherent to poverty, to homelessness and to gender. But in March 2020, for all of us, the world became a lot more frightening. And the charge upon Rosie’s Place, to keep our doors open and our guests safe, became much more significant. We quickly adapted every program and support we offer to allow for maximum safety without sacrificing quality. How we give our help looks different now— we maintain social distance when in person and we meet with guests online, over the phone and even outdoors. But our help has never stopped. Every day, we are meeting the most basic and urgent needs of hundreds of homeless women with medical screenings, meals, showers and both daytime and overnight shelter. We answered the soaring rise in hunger by doubling our Food Pantry’s capacity. Further, the expert assistance given through our remote Advocacy, Legal and Outreach programs is crucial to the survival and stability of women who are facing the enormous challenges of looming evictions and crushing debt as a result of the pandemic. Through the decades, our commitment endures and every day our work evolves—in order to best meet the needs of women who need us most. Where there are obstacles, we make opportunities. When there is uncertainty, we provide consistency. Where there is isolation and despair, we reach out with unconditional love and hope. We’ve never strayed from our values. Our compassion remains our compass on this challenging and uncharted path. And you remain our most generous and inspiring companions. Thanks to friends like you, Rosie’s Place can make sure our guests never lose hope. Because thanks to friends like you, they’ll always have our help.
In late January, Rosie’s Place guests and staff were relieved and grateful to receive their first vaccine doses thanks to the State’s prioritization of congregate shelter populations and with the coordination of our longtime friends, Boston Healthcare for the Homeless Program.
How You Can Help Just as how we deliver our help at Rosie’s Place has transformed—so too, have our volunteer and in-kind opportunities:
Virtual Food Drives Help stock the shelves in our Pantry by contributing to our food drive online at www.yougivegoods.com/rosiesplace2021-drive or by starting your own drive, at www.bit.ly/RPFoodDrive. >> Over the holidays, 16,000 lbs of food were donated to Rosie’s Place through virtual food drives providing 750 guests with a week’s worth of groceries.
Care Packages Many guests are stretching already insufficient budgets to cover food and housing for themselves and their families. Rosie’s Place assists with these urgent needs as well as other essentials, such as toiletries and personal care products. Help us by creating care packages filled with necessities like toothpaste, sanitizer and socks. Check out www.rosiesplace.org/carepackages for specific guidelines and apply for community service hours at www.bit.ly/ComServHours. >> In the past several months, 4,300 care packages have been donated enabling us to distribute basic and critical items to our guests.
Find other ways to help at www.rosiesplace.org/get-involved
Our founder, Kip Tiernan, often spoke about “the risk of being human.” In a pandemic-stricken world, where it seems risk is around every corner, it can be hard to remember the importance of risking humanity—connection, vulnerability, closeness. But you never wavered. Thank you for bravely taking this risk and making this path forward with us. We are grateful for all that we are accomplishing and hopeful of where we are headed—together. In solidarity,
Leemarie Mosca
We value your support, now more than ever. Thank you. ROSIE’S PLACE NEWS is published three times a year to inform our friends about activities and events taking place throughout the Rosie’s Place community. OUR MISSION is to provide a safe and nurturing environment to help poor and homeless women to maintain their dignity, seek opportunity, and find security in their lives. President/CEO Leemarie Mosca Director of Communications | Editor Jamie Doyle Communications Coordinator | Contributor Mikayla Mercado Design Colette O’Neill We’d love to hear from you! Please contact us with your comments at jdoyle@rosiesplace.org or 617.318.0265.
Take Action to Make Change Our Public Policy program continues to advocate for legislation that improves the lives of our guests, and engages them in the process. The pandemic has exposed the inadequacies that have always existed in the safety net for poor and homeless women. By participating in policy advocacy our guests have the opportunity to meet with their state legislators, share their stories, and emphasize the need for improvements and investments in housing and homelessness programs. Please join our guests in advocating for change by joining our Action Alert Network at www.bit.ly/RPactions.
Mobile COVID-19 Testing at Rosie’s Place In February, working in partnership with Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program (BHCHP), we established a free mobile COVID-19 testing site at Rosie’s Place. From this medical trailer in our parking lot, BHCHP staff conduct rapid tests for people who are experiencing homelessness, and surveillance test our guests and staff. This accessible and convenient resource helps us to keep our community safe.
Communityof
Friends
Thank you Shaw’s and Star Market Foundation for your generous grant of $100,000 that will help Rosie’s Place provide critical food access to women and their families. This grant is part of the Nourishing Neighbors Community Relief Initiative to fight growing food insecurity due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The need is great, but so are our supporters. Thank you Shaw’s and Star Market Foundation!
Our friends at WBUR CitySpace transformed their traditional performance of Charles Dickens’ classic A Christmas Carol into a virtual event held on December 18, 2020. This beloved holiday reading, now in its 18th year, raised over $23,000 for our work and featured WBUR hosts and reporters Meghna Chakrabarti, Tiziana Dearing, Jack Lepiarz, Bob Oakes and Robin Young, along with a musical performance by Amory Siverston and Mike Moschetto.
holidays at rosie’s place
This year, our holiday celebrations may have looked different but the feeling was the same as always—joy and gratitude for being together!
Did K ? You
now
Rosie’s Place was honored with one of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Breakfast Committee’s 2021 Drum Major Awards for exemplifying “King’s legacy of service and dedication to social justice.” Leemarie Mosca, our President/CEO, accepted the award virtually. Watch her acceptance video at www.bit.ly/2021DrumMajorAward.
In March, Jennifer Howard, Director of our Legal Program, was a speaker at the Boston Bar Association’s panel discussion, “Housing and Covid-19: Updates on Homelessness, Evictions and More.” Throughout the pandemic, our Legal Program has seen requests for help with matters of housing law continue to rise. New look, same mission! At our refreshed website you’ll be able to read and watch more community stories. And you’ll find easier ways to give, get involved or learn more about our services–regardless of whether you’re on a desktop, tablet or cell phone. Visit www.rosiesplace.org to check us out. The ESOL classes of our Women’s Education Center have gone remote but our students and volunteer teachers have remained close, with accessible and innovative online and over the phone courses for all skill levels. We now offer Zoom ESOL classes as well as a curriculum comprised of 6 weekly phone conversations on varying topics.
Then-Boston Bruins captain Zdeno Chara stopped by Rosie’s Place in November to deliver Thanksgiving desserts from HP Cookie CO. (left). Our staff (right) decorated the Dining Room and served a celebratory brunch and Thanksgiving dinner for all the women who joined us. View the full Thanksgiving album at www.bit.ly/RPthanks20.
Our Workforce Specialist helps guests to attain and maintain gainful employment. From job sourcing to resume writing, mock interviews to job readiness workshops and computer trainings—she helps guest enter or re-enter the workforce with competence and confidence. Together with the support of our generous friends, we made this difficult holiday season brighter for the women we serve. Many thanks to all who helped us to provide over 600 women with holiday gifts including guests in our Overnight Shelter and everyone who joined us for Christmas dinner. See more of our celebration at www.bit.ly/RPchristmas.
Safe & Sound
Chef Showcase
a rosie’s place livestream event
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m a y 19, 2021
Join us for an evening of food, friends and philanthropy! Our first ever Safe & Sound Chef Showcase, hosted by Susan Wornick and Jack Lepiarz of WBUR, will be a livestream event on Wednesday, May 19th at 7pm. This special night will feature the best of Boston’s culinary talent: Karen Akunowicz of Fox & the Knife, Andy Husbands of The Smoke Shop BBQ, Fran Quarm of Rosie’s Place, Owen Royce-Nagel of Tres Gatos and Rob Wong of o ya. Wine pairings from Dan Michaud of Ruby Wines, Inc., are also on the menu. Watch as each chef is challenged to create a unique dish highlighting an ingredient from the Rosie’s Place’s Food Pantry. All proceeds from the Safe & Sound Chef Showcase allow Rosie’s Place to continue providing help and hope, emergency services and long-term support to thousands of poor and homeless women.
Rosie’s Place note cards are a perfect gift idea for any occasion! You can give Mom our springtime favorite, First Light on the River (pictured), or cards featuring three other scenes, each depicting a different New England season. With artwork donated by acclaimed artist Sam Vokey, we offer a pack of 10 for $18 or a variety pack with four cards of each image for $24. View all the images and order at www.rosiesplace.org/notecards.
www.rosiesplace.org 889 Harrison Avenue Boston, MA 02118
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