PEABODY ― Citizens Inn has announced “Inn to Opportunity,” a new $7.4 million campaign to help fight homelessness and food insecurity on the North Shore.
“We are thrilled to be able to launch this comprehensive campaign for our organization,” said Citizens Inn Director of Development Ali Haydock. “The pandemic diverted our plans a bit, but we’re very excited to be able to support our clients in a more impactful way with this campaign.”
To promote the campaign, Citizens will hold a launch event and open house on Saturday, Oct. 16 from 2-5 p.m. at Haven from Hunger, 71 Wallis St, Peabody. The event will give donors an opportunity to learn about the campaign and also tour Haven from Hunger’s newly-renovated space on the second floor of its headquarters.
The Inn to Opportunity campaign has four components: renovation of Haven from Hunger, programming at Haven (which includes the newly-designed resource center and pantry), renovations to the Inn Between facility, and individualized programming for shelter clients.
The campaign aims to allow Citizens to better address the root causes of homelessness and hunger. The campaign supports Citizens’ main mission, which is to break the patterns of instability that lead to homelessness and hunger for the thousands of individuals served by Citizens Inn.
Citizens currently provides shelter and support services to 35 families in its two shelters, Inn Between and Inn Transition. It also provides nourishment to nearly 6,000 individuals annually through the Haven from Hunger food pantry and community meals program. Citizens and Haven merged in 2017, bringing together the two leading nonprofits to further their mutual mission of solving food insecurity in Peabody, Salem, and Lynnfield.
In partnership with No Child Goes Hungry in Peabody and the Peabody Institute Library, Citizens Inn also hosts the Peabody Summer Eats program, which provides free meals to children from 2-18 during the summer months when families do not have access to school meals. Since 1990, Citizens has also provided comprehensive case management to families in early recovery in a transitional sober housing environment through its Citizens Inn Transition program.
“I am drawn to the mission of Citizens Inn as it provides opportunities for all people to thrive in our community,” said campaign co-chair Martha Holden of Peabody. “When issues of housing and food insecurity are met, people can better provide for themselves, take care of their families, and have more opportunities to control their destiny and achieve their goals in life.”
Inn To Opportunity will focus not only on the many programs Citizens needs to sustain the ever-increasing client base brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic and the multi-layered services relied upon by Citizens on a day-to-day basis, but on certain capital improvements that Citizens believes will enhance its ability to attain its overall mission.
Citizens Inn, formally Citizens for Adequate Housing, was founded in 1983 by Mary Jane Lee.
To find out more information regarding the campaign or for more information on the open-house launch event, go to www.inntoopportunity.org.
Anne Marie Tobin can be reached at [email protected].
