Boston Religious Leaders respond to bridge closure, Day Center to open

January 14, 2015

Dear Old South Church in Boston,
 
Greetings, grace, and peace in this New Year.
 
I am writing to inform you that last evening the members of your Church Council voted unanimously to assume a very large undertaking. In response to the abrupt closing of the Long Island Bridge, and the consequent uprooting and evictions of over 700 homeless persons from Long Island’s shelters and services, we will be a small part of the solution. Our Open Door will open just a little wider. Our Sanctuary in the City will offer refuge to Boston’s most vulnerable.
 
On Monday morning, January 19, beginning at 9:00 am, Old South Church will become the site of the new BOSTON WARM DAY CENTER. This is a temporary day center, operating through March 31, 2015. By April, the City of Boston expects to have created sufficient beds, recovery programs, and storage to finally accommodate the Long Island Refugees, bringing them all in from the cold.
 
The Boston Warm Day Center will operate Monday through Friday, from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm. It will be located in our Club Room. A large adjoining storage room will provide a secure place for people’s personal belongings.
 
The Boston Warm Day Center is the labor of Religious Leaders for Long Island Refugees. For months we have been worrying over and advocating on behalf of the increasingly dire plight of the Long Island Refugees. Many of them have been struggling to make it day to day under inhumane and deplorable circumstances. While the City of Boston has been focused on a long-term solution, our most vulnerable sisters and brothers have suffered in these coldest and harshest of times.
 
The Boston Warm Day Center will be staffed at all times by two experienced people: a Day Center Manager and a Day Center Administrator. Additional volunteers will be on site when we are open. Starlight Ministries has generously agreed to train Day Center volunteers. If you wish to help, please visit the Boston Warm website.
 
Funding. We have a budget of about $43,000 of which over $20,000 has already been raised outside of Old South Church by neighboring houses of faith. The budget includes two full-time paid staff, daily janitorial services, coffee and healthy snacks, sturdy and lockable storage bins for people’s personal belongings, art supplies, dumpster, and other equipment and supplies. Fundraising efforts continue.
 
Rest assured that we have investigated or are in the process of investigating liability, worker’s comp, and other such matters. We have had invaluable assistance from attorneys, human resources, and those service providers who know this population best.
 
Special thanks to:
 
Rev. John Edgerton who has been to more meetings and plead with more people on behalf of the Long Island Refugees than anyone else.
 
Rev. June Cooper, City Mission Society, who has run the weekly meetings of Religious Leaders for Long Island Refugees, and donated a staff person to organize us, build a website, and coordinate services.
 
Ted Wade who has doggedly tracked down heavy-duty, lockable storage bins.
 
Rev. Laura Everett, Massachusetts Council of Churches, whose networking and contacts have made all the difference.
 
Please keep us in your prayers.

Rev. Nancy Taylor
Senior Minister, Old South Church