Rosie's Place Spring Newsletter 2023

Q&A

MARITZA GRAY FRONT DESK ADVOCATE

Maritza Gray is a Front Desk Advocate at Rosie’s Place. Every day, she and our Front Desk team welcome hundreds of women in need at our door and over the phone, providing compassion, connection and support. While Maritza has worked in this critical role at Rosie’s Place for seven years, her ties to our community go back decades.

What’s your first memory of Rosie’s Place?

About 20 years ago, I found myself homeless. I was a young single mother with a one-year-old son. We were sleeping on my sister’s couch at her place on Harrison Avenue, just two doors down from Rosie’s Place. The apartment was too small for all of us, and it quickly became clear that my son and I couldn’t stay there long.

I had seen women going into Rosie’s Place every day for meals and groceries and it seemed like a safe, friendly place. So I decided to go in myself and see if they could help me find a place of my own. I just remember everyone I met being so friendly and helpful. And most of all respectful. I didn’t feel judged at all. An Advocate worked with me to submit my housing application and not too long after that, my son and I were able to move into our own place and stabilize enough that I could start working again. My experience at Rosie’s Place was truly life changing and I knew in my heart that I would come back.

How did your path bring you back to Rosie’s Place? I was working with at-risk youth in Boston, and it was important for me to show the teenage girls that I was working with that we all have something to contribute. We became regular volunteers in Rosie’s Place’s Dining Room and it was an unforgettable experience for all of us.

A few years later, when I saw an opening to join the Front Desk staff, I was so excited. Things have truly come full circle. Now, I’m on the other side of that front door, I’m answering the phone—and I get to give the same welcome and help that I received 20 years ago—to other women who need it now.

What does Rosie’s Place mean to you?

Rosie’s Place means family. So many of the women we serve have no family in their lives. They have no one to rely on and we become that for them. We help each other like family. Eat meals together like a family. And just like a family, we see our guests on their best days as well as their worst ones and we love them no matter what. Our guests know that they can always come back to us for as long as they need us. That’s truly family. And that’s what has kept me coming back to Rosie’s Place.

The Family You Make

For years, as hard as they both worked, Monica and her husband were never able to save much. They made enough for themselves and their young teenage daughter, Josie, to get by. But they could never get ahead.

So, when Monica’s husband suddenly left her, she had nothing to fall back on. Paying their rent on one income would be impossible, so she took on a second job that meant she was away from home and Josie even more. They cut back wherever they could but making rent and covering utilities and food was a stretch every month. Then, a friend told Monica about Rosie’s Place, and she began to visit our Food Pantry early in the mornings, before her first job started. Monica cobbled together a stable life for herself and Josie, but she knew it was tenuous.

When her mother died, Monica’s father invited her and Josie to come live with him. She could help her dad around the house and cut back on her hours, allowing more time with Josie. Over the years, the three of them had their ups and downs but when Josie graduated high school and started to work full-time to save for college, Monica believed it had all been worth it.

Unfortunately, just as Monica and Josie were beginning to plan for the future, their foundation crumbled. Monica’s father had remarried and his new wife didn’t want them there. With little warning, mother and daughter found themselves without a home. Once more, they went into survival mode—staying on friends’ couches, motels when they could, even sleeping in the car they shared—all while scrambling to get to work every day. Eventually, as the cold weather arrived and their options were

completely exhausted, they couldn’t keep up their balancing act any longer and they lost their jobs. That’s when Monica returned to Rosie’s Place, bringing 19-year-old Josie with her.

Monica called it a miracle when she learned that two beds were available in our Overnight Shelter. They were both so happy to regain a routine of normalcy and to have the opportunity to connect with our Housing Search and Employment Specialists. Their three-week stays with us were lengthened over the holidays, allowing Monica and Josie time to begin new jobs as well as their applications for housing of their own. As Josie said, “The help and love we found at Rosie’s Place were the best gifts we could have ever received. The staff gave us support and strength when we needed it most.”

Today, mother and daughter are living together in transitional housing just down the street from Rosie’s Place, awaiting the paperwork on their new apartment to be finalized. They stop in to meet with an Advocate who is arranging to help them with moving costs and furniture for their new home. And they also visit our Dining Room to share a hot meal with friends before Monica starts her day as an administrative assistant at the hospital and Josie starts her server shift at a local restaurant.

Monica says of Rosie’s Place, “You all taught me that family isn’t just something you’re born into. Family is something that, if you’re lucky, you can build. I will forever count Rosie’s Place as my family for all you have done for me and my daughter. We are so grateful.”

How We Support & Stabilize Families

Last year, our Advocacy team provided crucial financial assistance that prevented eviction for more than 1,172 guests and their families. We also helped others negotiate with utility companies to restore services or access affordable repayment plans to avoid shutoff of services. We know that once a woman is evicted, regaining stability is an upward and often long-term struggle. That’s why Rosie’s Place has made eviction prevention a programmatic priority for our community, increasing our budget significantly to meet this rising and critical need.

Open 365 days with meals served on-site or to-go, our Dining Room served more than 62,000 meals in 2022—a 23% increase from the previous year. Our Food Pantry provides groceries to 350 households each day and accommodated a record 64,000 visits last year. These healthy, reliable meals and groceries are vital financial and nutritional supplements for our guests and their families.

Our Housing Stabilization program supports more than 65 newlyhoused women and women at-risk of eviction through regular home visits and frequent contact with property owners and management companies. Over the course of last year, our efforts ensured that 100% of the guests served through this program remained housed and healthy.

Over 12 months, our Legal Program connected nearly 800 guests to legal aid and resources related to family law, immigration, housing, eviction intervention, employment and CORI sealing through in-person visits and our Legal Helpline. This included referrals for more than 400 guests to receive extended support. By providing these free, accessible and immediate expert supports, we work to keep women and their families safe, housed and together.

Dear Friend,

When women come to Rosie’s Place for the first time, just as Maritza and Monica who you read about on the first page of this newsletter did, we know it is because they are out of options. Indeed, they have nowhere or no one else to turn to. Today, as we meet more poor and homeless women than ever before, our help and hope has never been more important.

And when women return to Rosie’s Place, whether it’s to connect with support, share good news, volunteer or join our staff, we know that our compassion is making a difference.

Guests depend on us because we have always been more than a shelter. We are a sanctuary, a second chance. And for so many women, we are even more than a community. With our doors and arms always open in unconditional welcome—we become family.

For women who have immigrated to America, leaving all that is familiar behind, or others who may be estranged from or have lost loved ones due to trauma, illness or addiction, we are a comfort and a constant. Whether they are visiting our Dining Room to enjoy a delicious meal, meeting with an Advocate to address an emergency or long-term need or staying with us in our Overnight Shelter, we strive to give every woman who visits us, the care and respect that a family would.

We also recognize that many of our guests are tending to families of their own, so we take care to provide comprehensive services. Every day, our Food Pantry provides healthy and hearty groceries to 350 households. Further, our Legal Program delivers access to expert family law, immigration, housing, employment and CORI sealing assistance, so that families can remain safe and housed.

Advocates in our Housing Stabilization program visit regularly with women in their homes to offer kindness and help with household necessities, challenges and chores. And our Advocates are now helping more families than ever before with rent and utility arrearages to avoid eviction and homelessness.

In this way, for so many of the thousands of poor and homeless women we meet every year, we become the relatives they left, lost or, for too many, may have never had. We become the family that is chosen.

While so many of our guests have made Rosie’s Place part of their family, we know so many of our supporters have, too.

Through your generosity, you join us in extending welcome, sanctuary and second chances to every woman who needs us for as long as she needs us.

You join us in extending our family. Thank you.

With appreciation,

Leemarie Mosca

Please support Rosie’s Place by making a donation online at www.rosiesplace.org/springnews23 or by sending a gift in the enclosed envelope. We thank you!

President/CEO Leemarie Mosca Director of Communications/Editor Jamie Doyle

Digital Communications Manager/Contributor Leah Westberry

Communications Associate/Contributor Sara Clark

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.

Help Team Rosie’s Place Cross the Finish Line!

Meet our wonderful friends—Grace, Rebecca, Maggie and Raj—who will be running the 127th Boston Marathon on April 17, 2023, and raising money for our vital programs and services. We hope you will join us in supporting them as they support us!

Grace Lee, a recent Boston transplant, works as a senior portfolio manager at Columbia Threadneedle Investments. Grace, who will be marking her 50th birthday this year by running her first Boston Marathon for Rosie’s Place, says, “I’m happy to support an organization that supports women in so many ways.”

Rebecca Manning is an international development consultant in New York. A past member of our Young Professionals Network and frequent volunteer, Rebecca says of her ties to our community, “I’ve seen firsthand how Rosie’s Place has cultivated a unique culture that always puts its guests first. I am honored to wear the pink singlet on race day!”

Maggie Monaghan is a junior at Wesleyan University majoring in American Studies and Environmental Studies. She and her family are longtime friends of Rosie’s Place. Ever since she watched her mother run the Marathon in 2013, it’s been her dream to do the same. Says Maggie, “I’m grateful to be running for an organization whose work I hold close to my heart.”

Raj Reddy is an OB/GYN resident physician at Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. A loyal friend of Rosie’s Place, Raj last ran the Boston Marathon in 2013. Of this year’s race he says, “I’m excited to run again for Rosie’s Place, an organization that I’ve seen benefit countless patients of mine.”

Visit www.rosiesplace.org/bostonmarathon to donate and learn more. All proceeds support Rosie’s Place.

Join our Efforts to Make Public Transportation Equitable and Affordable for All

For many of our guests who rely on public transit like the Commuter Rail, ticket prices can be a huge barrier. The price of each trip to work, to appointments and more can add up to be a significant burden on the already-stretched budgets of poor and homeless women.

To help make transit more affordable for our guests, our Public Policy team is working with our coalition partners and allies advocating for the passing of Bill H.3288: An Act relative to fare equity.

Under this bill, all MBTA commuter rail stations in the city of Boston will be designated as Zone 1A, therefore reducing the financial burden for Boston residents who live in neighborhoods that are in different zones with more expensive fares. These fares can reach up to $6.50 or $7.00 for a single one-way ride from places like Roslindale, Hyde Park, Readville and West Roxbury.

The proposed bill would make all single-fare rides from commuter rail stations the same price as a single trip on the T ($2.40). Not only would this price reduction make public transportation more accessible and affordable, it would also mean that much less of a worker’s paycheck would be lost to the expense of their daily commute.

To learn more about how you can support this and the other legislative priorities of our Public Policy program, email Tri Tran at ttran@rosiesplace.org.

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.

OUR VISION is based on the words of our founder, Kip Tiernan: “Never forget that charity is scraps from the table and justice is a seat at the table. Charity is giving to others what belongs to you. Justice is giving others what belongs to them.”

At Rosie’s Place, we believe diversity, equity and inclusion are core components of justice. We commit to acting on a daily basis to dismantle injustice to ensure that opportunities and equitable outcomes are available to all members of our community regardless of individual characteristics including race, color, religion, national origin, gender, gender identity, age, sexual orientation or perceived ability.

Our President on the Rosie’s Place Family

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We are grateful to our friends at WBUR CitySpace who held their 20th annual performance of Charles Dickens’ classic A Christmas Carol to benefit Rosie’s Place this past December. It was a fantastic and festive evening that raised over $17,000 for our life-changing programs and services. The event featured WBUR hosts and reporters Meghna Chakrabarti, Tiziana Dearing, Jack Lepiarz, Darryl C. Murphy and Robin Young as well as music from Syncopation, making for a very merry and bright night!

holi DaYs at rosie’s place

As always, the holiday season was festive and fun and busy and bright at Rosie’s Place! We distributed holiday gifts to 1,500 women and celebrated together with delicious food and warm togetherness. Thank you to everyone who helped us make the season special for our community.

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Rosie’s Place celebrated its 49th anniversary on April 9th! When Kip Tiernan and her friends first opened the doors to Rosie’s Place on Easter Sunday, 1974, she started a legacy of service and support that is still going strong almost five decades later. Our annual celebration was held in the Dining Room with delicious food and wonderful friends!

This winter, 49 students took part in our Women’s Education Center’s Writing Café. Over the five-week session, students worked with our volunteer teachers practicing their writing, creating artwork and enjoying songs from visiting musicians. This Writing Café will culminate in a published book of students’ work and a celebration of their accomplishments this spring.

Rosie’s Place is growing!

Since July 1, 2022, we have hired 20 new staff members, enabling us to serve more guests in more ways than ever before.

On Giving Tuesday, New England Revolution mascot Slyde gave us a visit as well as a generous donation of gift cards and cupcakes!

We deeply appreciate Amazon awarding us a grant in support of our programs and services, as well as $25,000 worth of holiday gifts of winter essentials for our guests!

Our Dining Room is on track to serve twice as many meals in 2023 as we did last year. So far this year alone, we have served almost 50,000 meals. As the need for our help continues to increase, Rosie’s Place’s efforts to address this growing hunger crisis will, too.

In recognition of the important work Rosie’s Place does to support children and families in need, Boston Children’s Hospital’s Office of Community Health recently honored us with a $10,000 Community Award grant. We are so grateful for the appreciation and support!

We were delighted to receive Care Packages for our guests from “Milo the Christmas Elf” and his mom Vanessa’s holiday workshop!

@meredithsknitting donated a stack of beautiful handknit scarves from her annual knit-a-thon event. What a beautiful and thoughtful way to keep our guests warm.

In February, Rosie’s Place staff hosted a special Black History Month art making event for our guests. There were canvases to paint and hot chocolate and great company to enjoy. Our guests appreciated the opportunity to connect and create together!

A big thank you to members of our Young Professionals Network for their hard work assembling holiday gifts for our guests!

Our gratitude to our longtime partners at J.Jill who graciously provided grant and volunteer support as well as items for our holiday drive!

Rosie’s Place staff volunteered in the 43rd annual Boston Homeless Census this past January. The census process not only ensures that we prepare enough resources and services for the homeless women who rely on Rosie’s Place, but it is also a reminder that everyone— regardless of where they sleep—counts.

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A Noteworthy Gift Idea

Rosie’s Place note cards are a perfect gift idea for any occasion, and this springtime favorite, First Light on the River (pictured), is available just in time for Mother’s Day. Painted by acclaimed artist Sam Vokey as he stood on the banks of the Charles River in Cambridge, this quiet dawn scene is a perfect reminder of spring mornings in Boston. Choose this card or three other scenes, each depicting a different New England season. With artwork graciously donated by 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.

We are thrilled to invite you to join us in-person on May 10, 2023, for an evening of food, friends and philanthropy! Rosie’s Place’s Safe & Sound gala features signature creations from the best of Boston’s culinary talent, alongside expertly paired wines, and the opportunity to bid on exclusive and unique auction packages.

For more information, contact Olivia Davis Wilson at odaviswilson@rosiesplace.org or 617.318.0211 or visit www.rosiesplace.org/gala.

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With both on-site and remote volunteer opportunities, it’s never been easier to get involved and give back to the women we serve at Rosie’s Place! To learn more about volunteering with us, both in-person and off-site, visit www.rosiesplace.org/get-involved or email volunteer@rosiesplace.org.

Volunteer On-Site

From preparing and serving a meal in our Dining Room to substitute teaching in our Women’s Education Center, there are a variety of on-site volunteer positions. To learn how to register to volunteer with us, visit www.bit.ly/VolRegRP.

Lead a Virtual Food Drive

Help stock our Pantry shelves by contributing to our virtual food drive or starting one of your own at https://yougivegoods.com/ rosiesplace-allsupporters2023.

Create Care Packages

FUNNY WOMEN… SERIOUS BUSINESS

Tuesday, November 7, 2023 at 12:00 PM Hynes Convention Center, Boston

Join us for the always-entertaining and always-inspiring annual Funny Women...Serious Business luncheon.

Visit www.rosiesplace.org or check our social media soon for more details. weDnesDaY, maY 10, 2023 the cYclorama at the boston center for the arts

Many guests are stretching already-insufficient budgets to cover high food and housing costs for themselves and their families. Rosie’s Place assists with these urgent needs as well as other essentials, like toiletries and personal care products. Check out www.rosiesplace.org/carepackages for specific guidelines.

Fulfill a Wishlist Need

When you purchase items through our Amazon Wishlist (amzn.to/3Z8kHMa), the specific items we need most are shipped directly to us.

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