$100,000 provides shelter from the storms

LYNN – The Lynn Emergency Shelter will be able to continue its day program this winter and for the next three winters, thanks to a $100,000 grant from the Cummings Foundation.”I was sent a letter in the mail, and you open it and there was this big orange thing and all it said was ?you got it,'” said Marjorie St. Paul, the executive director of the Lynn Shelter Association.”I literally did a happy dance, it was quite remarkable.”Lynn Shelter Association was one of four city organizations to receive a grant from the Cummings Foundation’s $100K for 100 grant program this year. Other recipients include Operation Bootstrap, which will expand its adult-education services, KIPP Academy and Girls Inc. of Lynn. KIPP will use the money for academic and college-readiness programs, while Girls, Inc. will use the money to support the Teen Health Ambassador Program, a peer-to-peer leadership development program that encourages teenage girls to make healthy sexual decisions, according to the foundation. The shelter association’s award helps resolve one of the city’s most visible ongoing issues.The Lynn Shelter Association operates an adult emergency center on Willow Street that houses approximately 50 people on a normal night but during winter storms will bring out sleeping “canoes” for nearly 100 people.During the day, however, shelter workers feared the residents might be on their own this winter. A $178,000 federal cut shut down the affiliated day program in March 2014, leaving about 40 to 60 people without a regular place to go between the hours of 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. and with reduced access to case management, job search and other services.The snows of last winter required that shelter staff and others volunteer hours to keep the shelter open at reduced hours.”You remember last winter, those were desperate times, and if people had to be out in that snow, there would have been some really, really ugly moments and there would have been a lot of deaths,” St. Paul said.The closure of the day program also presented a quality-of-life issue for city residents, St. Paul said.The closure meant that shelter residents essentially had to either wander around the city and find places where they could blend in among crowds – wandering the parks and streets on warm sunny days and choosing public spots such as the library or MBTA station during inclement weather.St. Jean said that with the grant award, along with some money expected from the Economic Development and Investment Corporation, will enable the day program to be held in the shelter, and job-search, computer training and case-management services will continue.”For us, and for police, there won’t be 60 people walking out the door every day on to the streets,” St. Jean said. “It keeps the library clear, keeps streets clear, and … makes a huge difference for the city and makes us good neighbors again.”Lynn Police Chief Kevin Coppinger said that the day program is important to the downtown residents and businesses.”When those services were cut back, the patrons were out on the streets, and they posed problems for downtown residents and businesses because they had nowhere to go and sometimes would get into mischief,” Coppinger said. With the day program in place, it will bring back the direction and services that will help these folks, and that will free up police resources for us who don’t have to sometimes monitor them.”Moreover, the money is spread over four years, giving the shelter association time to figure out how to incorporate the day program in its annual budget.But for now, St. Jean said she is just glad that shelter residents have a place to go on a cold winter day.”You wouldn’t believe what a difference this will make for us and for the city as a whole,” St. Jean said. “It’s not nice to just have 60 people thrown out on the street at 8 o’clock.”