Tedford Housing

Empowering people to move from homelessness to home.

DONATE

  • Home
  • Our Organization
    • About Us
    • Board of Directors
    • Staff
    • Careers
    • Current Annual Report
  • Services
    • All Programs
    • Warm Thy Neighbor FAQs
    • Other Emergency Services and Resources
  • Giving
    • Donate Online
    • Flagstone Donor (monthly giving)
    • Household Supply Wish List
  • New Building
  • Events
    • 2023 Tedford Housing Silent Auction
  • Get Involved
    • Volunteer
      • Meal-A-Month Program
      • Volunteer Application
  • Contact Us

‘The light is shining in the darkness:’ Community members gather to remember those in the homeless community who died this year

December 29, 2020 By Blaine Flanders Leave a Comment

“People who experienced homelessness, were previously homeless or worked in the homeless sector were remembered during the darkest night of the year.” 

This article was written on December 22, 2020 by Hannah LaClaire, a reporter from the Times Record. You can find the Times Record article here.


BRUNSWICK — Each year, the names read at Tedford Housing’s annual memorial service are a sobering reminder that people in the community are battling homelessness. 

The service is traditionally held indoors, but this year, due the coronavirus pandemic, attendees gathered in the dark, cold and wet parking lot of St. Paul’s Church — outside and at the mercy of the elements. With candles held aloft, it was a  poignant reminder of the risk faced by those without a permanent home. 

They stood “in witness and solidarity to those who do not have stable housing,” Rev. Carolyn Ecklund said. “The light is shining in the darkness.” 

Christopher Brawn, Charlene Matts, Nancy Lord, Terri Brenner, Walter Dahl, Jason Munsey and Dan Ouelette, people who either experienced homelessness, were previously homeless or worked in the homeless sector, were remembered Monday, the first night of winter and the darkest night of the year. 

“Throughout the centuries, man has marveled at and sometimes feared the darkness that accompanies the long sleep of winter,” said Rota Knott, Tedford’s executive director. “People often fear what they don’t understand. Few of us understand what it is like to experience homelessness, to literally have nowhere to go and no one to turn to for help. So homelessness becomes a dark shadowy figure that lurks on the edge of our communities.”

Monday night’s ceremony served to honor the seven lost during the year, but also to “illuminate the darkness of fear and misunderstanding that marginalizes and shrouds our friends and neighbors who are experiencing homelessness,” she said.

Tedford Housing has observed Dec. 21, National Homeless Persons’ Memorial Day, for 30 years and has commemorated the day with an annual memorial service since 2006. 

Last year, 11 people were remembered during Tedford’s service, and while this year the list was shorter, the coronavirus pandemic has only served to put the homeless community at greater risk and exacerbate the problems members already face. 

The virus has disrupted life in all aspects, Knott said, from the big things like stay at home orders to the little things like remembering to bring a mask when leaving the house. 

“But those are not little things to people experiencing homelessness,” she said. “It has been a particularly challenging year for those of us in our community who don’t have a home and a support system to turn to during this pandemic.” 

This year, faced with reduced capacity to accommodate social distancing, Tedford Housing’s adult shelter on Cumberland Street served 57 people, only 37 percent of whom left the shelter for permanent housing. 

The agency’s apartment-style family shelter on Federal Street served 53 family members. Of those, about 62 percent exited to permanent housing, according to the organization’s annual report. 

The amount of time spent in the shelter has also increased as the pandemic grinds on. 

This year, the average length of stay for an adult guest at the shelter was 88 days — a more than one-month increase from the 53-day average in 2019. The trend is mirrored for families, whose average length stay of 134 days is a 42-day jump from the year before.

In Portland,  64 people experiencing homeless died this year, according to the Portland Press Herald, nearly 50 percent more than last year. 

While this trend is not mirrored in Brunswick, the situation is still dire.

For every person served, many more were turned away due to lack of space, and in 2020, Tedford turned away 266 individuals and 133 family members seeking shelter.

Filed Under: General, News & Events Tagged With: community, gather, homeless, light, remember

Giving Voice: Homelessness in the southern Midcoast through the lens of COVID-19

July 15, 2020 By Blaine Flanders Leave a Comment

Giving Voice

This article was published in the Portland Press Herald on 07/03/2020 and is written by Giff Jamison, the Director of Programs at Tedford Housing.

As I write this in late June, we are entering our fifth month of the COVID-19 pandemic in Maine. Back in March, in response to the suddenness and increasing severity this national health crisis, Tedford Housing, like many other organizations serving people experiencing homelessness, began changing and adapting in order to adhere to the evolving social distancing guidelines and the Governor’s executive order to shelter safely at home. That month, to create more room in our shelter, we moved some guests into a motel. Our shelter, which traditionally had been closed between 8 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. on weekdays, is now open 24/7. By late May, enough people had transitioned into housing to allow us to bring everyone safely back into the shelter again. Normally 16 beds, we are capping our current capacity at 10 individuals – doing intakes as beds empty and guests move into housing. Our family shelter continues to serve our regular number of six families in individual apartments in our facility at Federal St.

So far, Tedford has been lucky in not having a shelter guest or any of its staff members test positive for COVID-19. But here, as everywhere else, adjusting to the often referred to “new normal” is challenging for everyone involved. Our overarching goal has always been to help people who have experienced the trauma and destabilizing impact of homelessness become housed as soon as possible. Prior to March, there were already enough hurdles for our case managers to manage in finding suitable affordable housing. Matching resources and the limited supply of affordable housing to the diverse needs of people on their case loads meant hours of telephone calls, in-person viewing of apartments and layers of paperwork to finalize the issuance of a voucher and lease-up of an apartment. COVID-19 brought another dimension to that work. As Michelle Thiboutot, our adult shelter case manager, puts it: “COVID-19 has slowed the housing process down. From processing documents for housing to securing a unit.”

In addition to working with folks in our shelters, Tedford case managers work with those who are homeless and unsheltered in the community and those in their own apartments who have recently experienced homelessness. This outreach work has grown in importance as we work to not only restore housing to those that have lost it, but, through regular check-ins and visits, help people maintain their housing and avoid a return to homelessness. The changes in society brought about by the pandemic, the need to socially distance from others, to avoid gatherings, and the closing or reduced hours of places where people can socialize or congregate have had their impact on households served in outreach or our supportive housing programs. Michelle indicates: “some of my outreach clients are having a really hard time due to the isolation and COVID-19 restrictions.” Actual fear of becoming infected with the virus, coupled with the restriction in connecting with natural supports has taken its toll on some of our families as Beverly McPhail, our family case manager, points out: “Their biggest worry is that their children will be infected or will die from the coronavirus. They miss visiting face to face with their family members, their anxiety has increased substantially. Some families reported that they feel like they are buried alive and always worrying about the ever-looming coronavirus over their head. The loss of their freedom and the loss of everything that they used to do before coronavirus is devastating to them.”

Despite the hardships and loss encountered as a result of COVID-19, we have learned that we can still accomplish our mission to Empower people to move from homelessness to home and alleviate the interruption to a life caused by homelessness. In the coming week or so, two more people are moving into housing from our adult shelter. They are both persons who have experienced homelessness for long periods of time but have stuck it out at the shelter and through their patience and the diligence of their case manager have secured safe and affordable permanent housing. This event always provides a little shot in the arm for those of us in this field. With the uncertainty that this era generates in our personal and working lives, it is good to know that we can share in a small victory every once in a while. Some offer predictions of more to come in the way of COVID-19 in the upcoming fall and winter season. We, together with our partners in the community, will continue to adapt to the current conditions and, to the best of ability, continue our effort to house the most vulnerable in our community.

Filed Under: Giving, News & Events Tagged With: community, COVID-19, families, hardships, home, homelessness, Maine, midcoast, mission, new normal, partner, shelter, tedford, Tedford Housing

Tedford Housing Annual Meeting & Community Awards Featuring Mary Herman – June 17, 2019

June 6, 2019 By Rota Knott Leave a Comment

2019 Tedford Housing Annual Meeting & Community Awards

WHAT: Tedford Housing Annual Meeting & Community Awards featuring Mary Herman

WHEN: Monday, June 17, 2019 @ 5:00pm

WHERE: Brunswick Golf Club, 165 River Road, Brunswick

WHY: Tedford Housing will announce new board members and officers and honor staff and volunteers who have gone above and beyond to support Tedford’s mission. The evening will also feature Tedford advocate and Brunswick resident Mary Herman.

WHO: Mary Herman will speak about the power of community. Community honorees include Marilyn Sinskie, Annie Rose, Patty Biggs and Mary O’Brien.

HOW: This event is free and open to the public. Hors d’oeuvres will be served and a cash bar available. RSVP to 207-729-1161 #101 or email.

###

Tedford Housing’s mission: Creating pathways from homelessness to home by partnering with people and their communities in Midcoast Maine. For more information, call 207-729-1161 or visit www.tedfordhousing.org.

Filed Under: News & Events Tagged With: annual meeting, Brunswick Golf Club, community, community awards, Maine, Mary Herman, power of community, Tedford Housing

Going back to school when you are in need

September 19, 2018 By Rota Knott Leave a Comment

The following article was published in The Times Record on 9/14/18.

Funny commercials and in-store displays seem to promote back to school sales earlier and earlier each year. While the deals may be great, the families that Tedford Housing serves aren’t always able to participate in the annual rush to fulfill their children’s school supplies lists. The families we serve are struggling to find or maintain their permanent housing. Ticonderoga pencils and fashion trends are the last thing on their mind.

Tedford Housing is fortunate to have Tammy Cutchen and Meghan Painton working in the background to make sure kids can go back to school equipped with everything they need to feel “like every other kid.” Under the umbrella of Adoptive and Foster Families of Maine (AFFM), Tammy and Meghan provide backpacks filled with grade-appropriate school supplies, personal care items like toiletries and towels and a new outfit through the Ready Set Go to Learn (RSG2L) program.

Tammy and Meghan started their altruistic endeavor, The Clothing Garage, in 2009. They met at the Head Start program in Brunswick. Meghan ran the program and Tammy had foster kids who attended. Meghan had a “free box” at the center and families could use the contents of the box – mostly clothes – so they could save their money for basic needs like food and rent.

Tammy loved the recycling aspect of the box. Donating was an easy way to help others, and people are often more likely to donate items when they know it is being put to good use and at no cost to the recipient. Kids who came into Tammy’s care often didn’t have many possessions and so she knew the need was real.

Meghan and Tammy decided to start something even bigger. The donations soon outgrew the “free box” and would be stored in other people’s homes on a volunteer basis where there was more room. This gave more people opportunity to receive donations, but Tammy and Meghan quickly saw that transportation to pick up the donations was a challenge for many families. They would often deliver items.

In this process, they also noticed that many parents needed resources for school supplies but very few programs existed. Without a budget and “not knowing what they were doing,” Meghan and Tammy were able to provide backpacks and supplies for 100 kids in their first year of the RSG2L program. A woman who had gone through the foster system herself offered her basement for storage. Meghan describes totes being stacked from floor to ceiling in that first year. They slowly figured things out, putting up shelves to make storing easier and using donations of money to shop for supplies in the off season in order to get better deals on items.

The RSG2L program grew and this year filled over 200 backpacks for kids in Brunswick and surrounding towns. Meghan and Tammy are quick to note that this would not have been accomplished without all the volunteers they had this summer, coordinated by Linda Ashe-Ford, and the donation of space from St. Paul’s Church.

As if that wasn’t enough, Meghan and Tammy also started the Hope for Holiday program to help provide winter jackets and boots to families in need. While there are many programs for gifts, they noticed the need for winter gear not being fulfilled.

Everything was, and still is, done by volunteers, including Meghan and Tammy, and with a very small budget. It is truly a grassroots organization. Meghan, a single mom who works two jobs, spends her own vacation time filling backpacks so RSG2L recipients can be set for when school starts. She says she’s working on balancing the work involved with the program and hopes The Clothing Garage can soon become its own nonprofit entity outside of AFFM.

Interestingly enough, the items that get the most response from kids who receive backpacks from the RSG2L program are the personal care items. In addition to their school supplies, students also receive their own towel, toothbrush, shampoo and other personal care items. As Meghan noted, we don’t realize that not all kids have these items at their disposal.

This school year, the RSG2L program provided backpacks to 22 families that Tedford Housing serves, including 44 kids. They left us with a few extra backpacks and supplies in case we needed them, which we did. It is a program that we have come to rely on every August as summer starts to come to an end.

Every kid deserves to have a fresh start to the school year. We are thankful for people like Meghan and Tammy who help make that happen for our families.

Filed Under: Giving, News & Events Tagged With: Adoptive and Foster Families of Maine, AFFM, back to school, backpacks, community, Giving Voice, Meghan Painton, RSG2L program, Tammy Cutchen, Tedford Housing, Times Record

When Bowdoin Students Cross the Endowment Line

September 6, 2018 By Rota Knott Leave a Comment

The following article was published in The Times Record on 8/10/18 and was written by Annie Rose, the Maine Community Fellow at Tedford Housing during the summer of 2018. She is a junior at Bowdoin College.

Right here in Brunswick sits an institution with an extraordinarily vast abundance of resources and seemingly endless amount of funding, that which only a private liberal arts institution can attain. But beyond this very real, yet imaginary “endowment line” exists the growing challenge of homelessness in our community. Bowdoin College, my Maine home, situates itself within the larger Midcoast region currently working to support many of their neighbors who do not have a place to call home.

At Bowdoin, a school known for its commitment to the Common Good, students and faculty choose to teach or enroll in community oriented courses, attend lectures discussing the pressing social issues of our time, and regularly engage in conversations on socioeconomic class, racism, power and privilege, food insecurity, and homelessness. But for many, I find it fair to say they perceive these issues as largely distant. Only until I became directly involved with Tedford Housing did I grasp the true extent of poverty in our backyard and the community efforts working against it. Simultaneously living at Bowdoin College and working at Tedford Housing for the summer, and alternating between the two worlds each day, made the difference and juxtaposition readily apparent.

As the summer intern at Tedford Housing, I witnessed the daily operations of the primary agency addressing the growing challenge of homelessness and limited affordable housing in the Midcoast region. On any given day, there are over 100 people in the southern Midcoast region who are homeless. And countless more of our neighbors must fight to remain in their homes with the possibility of being homeless tomorrow. Tedford Housing partners with people to build paths back to stability. At Tedford, when action meets compassion, change happens. Everyday, when Tedford works with people either experiencing homelessness, at risk, or striving to maintain stability after having emerged from homelessness, progress towards ending homelessness is made

During my time with Tedford, I have also witnessed the shared dedication and interconnectedness of local agencies working together to improve the lives of neighbors in need of a hand-up, all-the-while instilling lasting hope for tomorrow. Not only do agency staff work together daily, but also the agencies share volunteers. Many of our Tedford volunteers and Board Members can be seen regularly preparing meals for the Soup Kitchen at MCHPP, welcoming visitors at The Gathering Place with a hot cup of coffee, and donating their time and medical qualifications to directly work with patients at Oasis Free Clinics.

And best of all, I’ve heard from many different people how Tedford came to be and understood how deeply rooted it is in Brunswick. As many people in the town of Brunswick already know, Tedford Housing officially began its commitment to creating pathways from homelessness to home in 1987. It grew from local residents recognizing that many of their neighbors were hungry. So, they provided food. And then, as their partnership with their neighbors grew, they realized they were also in need of shelter. And then, they worked to provide that too.

Only when I breached the Bowdoin Bubble did I truly understand the full extent of homelessness resting uneasily right outside our campus and the wide-spread community effort dedicated to finding and implementing solutions to end it. So, Brunswick lets continue to support Tedford, because Brunswick is Tedford and Tedford is Brunswick.

During my time at Bowdoin, I’ve been prompted regularly to explore and question what constitutes working towards the common good. Here at Tedford, once pushed to cross the “endowment line” each day, I believe I’ve landed somewhere solid in my understanding of exemplary commitment to community and devotion to the common good. Bowdoin College – its faculty, staff, and students alike – have much to learn from the many community members and local organizations dedicated to improving the health and well-being of all its neighbors, and so much to give.

Filed Under: News & Events Tagged With: Annie Rose, Bowdoin College, community, Giving Voice, neighbors, Times Record

  • 1
  • 2
  • Next Page »

  • About Us
  • Giving
  • Contact Us
  • Events
  • Household Supply Wish List
  • Privacy Policy
  • Financials

PO Box 958, Brunswick ME 04011

Copyright © 2023 Tedford Housing · Website Developed By DesignMe Creative Group · Log in