Tedford Housing’s Response to COVID-19

Tedford Housing

Creating pathways from homelessness to home.

Nonprofits and Mainers: A Match Made in Heaven

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Giving Voice

The following article was published in The Times Record on 2/14/2020 and written by Jennifer Iacovelli, Tedford Housing’s director of development.

As I sat down to write this article, I realized that it would be published on Valentine’s Day. Whether you celebrate the “holiday” or not, it’s a day that’s supposed to be dedicated to love. From the nonprofit perspective, we are always in need of a little love. We’re often looking for support in the form of donations, time and advocacy for the cause we represent.

Coincidently (or maybe not?), Tuesday February 11th was Nonprofit Day. The Maine Association of Nonprofits (MANP) used the day as a way to educate Mainers about the many contributions nonprofits make to our state. Did you know that 1 in 6 Maine workers are employed by a Maine nonprofit? According to MANP’s Adding Impact report, that translates to over 98,000 nonprofit jobs, $4.7 billion annually in wages and approximately $271 million in personal income tax revenue for our state.

In fact, the nonprofit sector is the 5th largest employer in the state of Maine, with healthcare and social service organizations accounting for about 30% of those jobs and hospitals employing 37% of workers in nonprofit jobs. The third largest piece of the nonprofit pie is education at 18%.

By definition, nonprofits are charitable organizations focused on specific missions that benefit the common good. With so many nonprofits in our state, it makes sense that these organizations would need to rely on individuals to donate money to our programs. And we do. Though Tedford Housing has revenue streams coming from private foundations, United Ways, state and federal grants and income/reimbursements from the programs and services we offer to clients, approximately 17% of our fiscal year 2019 budget came directly from individual donors.

Nonprofits are lucky in that individuals in Maine are generous. According to Maine Philanthropy Center’s Giving in Maine 2019 report for individuals, 21% of all Mainers at just about every income level report charitable giving on their taxes. Since not all giving is reported on tax returns, the report also states that it is estimated that 53% of Mainers donated $25 or more to charity in 2016. Individual giving took up the largest piece of total charitable giving in Maine in 2016 at 65%, with foundations being second at 24%.

The bottom line is that nonprofits depend on individuals like you to support our work in Maine communities. These donations not only help us fulfill our missions, but they also support the overall health of our state’s economy. This Valentine’s Day may be a good day to show a little love to a nonprofit you support. There are certainly a number of wonderful nonprofits to support with a donation just in the town of Brunswick.

If you’re not sure which nonprofit is the best match for you, don’t fret. There are some steps you can take to find that match. As a start, think about the organizations you already interact with. If you already have a relationship with a nonprofit, thank them by taking the extra step to make a donation. Do a simple google search to see which nonprofits are doing work in your town. Be sure to visit the nonprofit’s website to make sure its mission aligns with your core beliefs. You can also research nonprofits and their finances on Guidestar.org. When in doubt, pick up the phone and call a local nonprofit to find out more about their work and what support you could provide that would be most helpful to them. As a director of development, I can say I don’t mind at all when people call to ask questions and show interest in making the most impact with a gift.

Will you show a little love to a nonprofit to celebrate Valentine’s Day?

Giving Voice: The many contributions of the business community

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Giving Voice

The following article was published in The Times Record on 9/20/19 and written by Jennifer Iacovelli, Tedford Housing’s director of development.

You often hear nonprofits talk about how they couldn’t do their important work without the support of the business community. This statement is true, but it can be hard to put into words how much this support really does make a difference.  

First, let’s be clear about what “support” means. While monetary donations are amazing and necessary to help keep Tedford Housing’s programs and services alive for our neighbors most in need, many businesses go above and beyond sending along a check. In fact, we love it when we actually get to work alongside our business supporters. This may be in the form of volunteering or just visiting our offices to find out what’s going on with our clients and what their needs and challenges are in finding and maintaining stable, permanent housing. 

Atlantic Federal Credit Union, Bath Savings Institution, Camden National Bank, Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage, Five County Credit Union, Home Sweet Maine Realty, Mechanics Savings Bank and Norway Savings Bank, for example, all participate in various state and local initiatives that directly support nonprofits who provide basic needs services to the community. Not only do these local businesses send along checks to Tedford Housing, they hand deliver said checks and make it a point to learn about our services and offer their help in other ways. I remember I once had a group from Camden National Bank delivering holiday gifts for me one year when I was short on time. They had a blast playing Santa for a day. 

As you may know, Tedford Housing partners with Pathway Vineyard Church to bring a free Christmas store to families in need during the holidays. We get tremendous support from local businesses during this huge effort. Carter’s Freeport has donated brand new beautiful pajamas to Tedford Housing’s smallest clients through the Pajama Program. Eaton Peabody and Bilodeau Insurance Agency always make their way over to support us with holiday gifts from their staff. Mid Coast Medical Group held a sock drive for our adult shelter. Employees from the LL Bean safety division and Brunswick Taxi put their resources together for their own donation drives for Tedford’s clients during the holidays.  

There’s also Mustard Seed Bookstore who quietly inquires about the kids at our family shelter during the holidays and then hand picks literary gifts for them. Now You’re Cooking held a promotion for customers to bring their dull knives back to the store for credit for new ones and donated the turned in knives, newly sharpened, to Tedford. Wyler’s donated proceeds of sales during their busy holiday shopping season along with items collected from our wish list. Liberty Mutual in Lewiston helped us purchase warm winter items for all 16 guests in our adult shelter. 

We may receive our largest amount of donations during the holiday months, but we certainly see donations coming in throughout the year. J & J Cleaners was happy to clean donated blankets so we could provide them to a shelter guest moving into housing. Bisson Moving and Storage helps us when we are in a pinch and need to move a larger amount of furniture donations, delivering them to their new homes. We also love working with SimplySized Home who thinks of Tedford Housing when cleaning out their clients’ homes who are downsizing. Our clients moving into permanent housing end up with everything they need to start fresh in a new place.  

With Tedford Housing focused on housing, we rely on volunteers to provide meals every night of the year at our adult shelter. Some of the local restaurants that chip in every month to provide meals include The Great Impasta, Mae’s Café, Scarlet Begonias, Richard’s Restaurant and Sam’s / Kentucky Fried Chicken. Gelato Fiasco provided gelato for a fun “garden to table” meal at our family shelter this summer, while Wild Oats Bakery added bread and Scatter Good Farm gave us a beautiful box of freshly gleaned produce to add to the meal. Volunteers also pick up donations of pastries and coffee twice per week from Starbucks and deliver the goods to our shelter. Wicked Joe Coffee Roasting Co. generously gives us 5lbs / month of their yummy roasts. 

This is not an exhaustive list of Tedford Housing’s business supporters by any means, but it paints a good picture of the partnerships that exist in our community. We haven’t even mentioned the faith community, local schools and other nonprofit community partners who help us with meals for the shelter, volunteer their time or donate proceeds from events and donation drives.  

It may sound cliché but nonprofits like Tedford Housing really couldn’t do the work we do without that extra support from the local business community. If your business would like to become more involved with Tedford Housing, feel free to reach out to me at jennifer@tedfordhousing.org.  

Giving Voice: Flipping the Calendar to Volunteer Opportunities

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Giving Voice

The following article was published in The Times Record on 8/23/19 and written by Jennifer Iacovelli, the director of development for Tedford Housing and author of Simple Giving: Easy Ways to Give Every Day.

It’s funny how mindsets tend to change with the flip of the calendar. It seems like Mainers – and those tourists visiting our amazing Vacationland state – start to realize colder weather and the realities of a more structured schedule lie ahead once July turns into August. Summer-themed items are a thing of the past in stores and the back to school supplies are starting to get replaced by Halloween decorations. 

I was lucky enough to squeeze in a vacation with my two sons between the end of summer track and the beginning of football practices. Since being back from vacation I’ve been focused on getting backpacks filled with school supplies and clothes from the Ready Set Go to Learn (RSG2L) program (which I wrote about in a Giving Voice column published last year) for Tedford Housing’s school-aged clients. I’m also prepping for two visits from Bowdoin student volunteers for orientation and the college’s annual Common Good Day. Students will be back on campus before we know it. 

Our board members will start meeting again on a monthly basis, along with the important and focused committee work that will begin again. I’m also starting to think about the upcoming Warm Thy Neighbor season, which provides one-time, emergency heating assistance to extremely low-income families and individuals in the community. And, believe it or not, I also have our annual Christmas Store on the brain. We look forward to partnering with Pathway Vineyard Church once again to provide a free “store” for the families we serve during the holiday season. 

The realities of my job make me feel so fortunate that I am able to take my kids on a short vacation purely for our leisure. The outreach work by our case managers to neighbors in the community who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless continues to rise. Our two homeless shelters for individuals and families continue to remain full. Worries are heightened as the start of school gets closer and the temperatures begin to dip. 

The good news is that there are always silver linings to our work. There are the success stories of those individuals and families moving into permanent housing. There’s the help we receive from volunteers who sort the donations of household items, toiletries and cleaning supplies from generous supporters to help people set up their new homes. There are our regular supportive housing tenants who are helping to coordinate a crew that will put together a new playset we were able to purchase with funding from the Rotary Club of Bath. We are also elated to hear that the Merrymeeting Project for homeless youth, which Tedford Housing could no longer fund, has a new home with the Midcoast Community Alliance.  

That flip of the calendar from the carefree summer vacation mode to more serious school and work mode often gives people new motivation to help others. I tend to see a spike in inquiries regarding volunteer opportunities or ways people can contribute to our everyday work in the community creating pathways from homelessness to home. If you feel so inclined to be more involved with Tedford Housing, I’d love to chat with you. Our summer fellow from Bowdoin, Elise Hocking, did a great job identifying more volunteer opportunities for us. These opportunities include picking up and delivering meals to the shelter, making packets for our RentSmart programs for shelter guests, helping us maintain our wait list, sorting donations or managing our volunteer schedule. I’m also open to your ideas around helping to support Tedford Housing and the people we serve. Feel free to give me a call at 207-729-1161, ext. 101 or send me an email at jennifer@tedfordhousing.org. 

Giving Voice: The realities of family homelessness

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Giving Voice

The following article was published in The Times Record on 7/26/19 and written by Annie Rose, a Denning Fellow and rising senior at Bowdoin College.

Imagine, for a moment, you and your children become homeless. There’s no space at the local family shelter. With no other options, you are forced to sleep in your car or in a tent at a local campsite. Add to that situation a heat wave with temperatures reaching and consistently staying in the 90s for several days. How will you and your family survive the heat? How will you stay cool and hydrated?  

On top of managing survival in harsh weather conditions, homeless families face consistent difficulties trying to get their basic needs met. First, think of the quality of sleep parents in crisis get while in their van or in a tent, unsure if where they’ve landed for the night is safe. With a better sense of their level of exhaustion, where would it leave your energy level during the day to address the immediate needs of your family?  

Homeless families expend enormous amounts of energy every day trying to take care of basic needs that people who aren’t homeless easily take for granted. How will you stay clean and handle regular sanitary needs? Where can you access water to drink or brush your teeth? Where will you shower? How will you make sure you and your children have adequate food and nutrition?  

Beyond meeting basic needs, families experiencing homelessness face challenges externally in the greater world. What will the start of the school year look like for your school-aged children? How will you navigate enrollment processes without a household address? How will you make sure your kids get to school every day and are ready to learn?  

Many homeless families choose to not disclose their living status. For some families living in vans, cars or in tents, disclosing their living status presents certain risks. They wish not to “stand out” in society as being homeless, worried that it will invite scorn or judgment from others. Additional challenges include keeping up appearances to maintain employment. Caring for children while homeless presents additional challenges for maintaining their safety and wellbeing. Some parents choose to try and find other family members to assist during the time they are homeless, but this is not always an option. Many families choose to keep their homelessness hidden from certain people out of concern the authorities may find out and take their children away from them.  

According to MaineHousing’s annual point-in-time count, which tracks trends for people experiencing homelessness in our state, there was a slight increase in homelessness in general from 2018 to 2019. Of the households counted as homeless on Jan. 22, a third were families with children. Specifically, 448 people who responded to the count were in households with at least one child, 66 more than in 2018, showing an increase in homeless families by 17%. In 2018, Maine agencies served 6,454 unique clients experiencing homelessness, a slight increase of 1% from the prior fiscal year. Roughly 10% of these clients were homeless families.  

Tedford Housing has been serving more unsheltered folks in the southern Midcoast area overall. By unsheltered, we mean individuals living in places unfit for human habitation, such as vans, campsites, sidewalks, abandoned buildings and other unsafe situations. Currently, we are serving a notably higher number of families in unsheltered conditions.  

Local unsheltered families live in their vehicles at large retail store parking lots, or tent in nearby camp sites with the threat of remaining homeless as cold weather hits. Occasionally, families may find temporary respite in a motel through area churches, but often funds run out and they are forced to return to homelessness.  

Tedford Housing operates a family shelter on Federal Street. However, Tedford must turn away roughly 20 families a month due to lack of available space at our shelter. As of July 24, we have already turned away 26 total families in July so far, with 22 of those families calling Tedford Housing for the first time. 

Tedford Housing has the capacity to house only six families at a time. Typically, families remain at the shelter for three to six months prior to their exit into permanent housing. Families must wait to obtain widely coveted housing vouchers, due to limited affordable housing in our area. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition’s 2019 Out of Reach report, in order to afford a 2-bedroom rental home at Fair Market Rent, a household must earn $19.91/hour in the state of Maine. However, the average renter wage is $11.82 per hour, as the state minimum wage is $11 per hour. 

Many factors play a role in the onset and continuation of homelessness. Catastrophe, illness, fleeing domestic violence, divorce and family separation or any similar circumstance can contribute to a family becoming homeless. But family homelessness is not an unsolvable issue. With the right supports and availability of affordable housing resources, families will restore stability to their lives and provide a better opportunity for their children to not just survive, but to succeed and thrive.  

Annie Rose is a Denning Fellow and rising senior at Bowdoin College. Giving Voice is a weekly collaboration among four local non-profit service agencies to share information and stories about their work in the community. 

Giving voice: Creating pathways with opportunities to become involved with Tedford’s mission

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Giving Voice

The following article was published in The Times Record on 6/28/19 and written by Elise Hocking, the Maine Community Fellow at Tedford Housing and a rising sophomore at Bowdoin College. 

During my first year at Bowdoin College, I ran down Federal Street countless times on my way to the bike path along the river. Going into the summer, I felt confident navigating my way around the town of Brunswick. To my surprise, on my first day at Tedford Housing, I learned that one of the houses that I consistently ran by was Tedford Housing’s family shelter. While the shelter is not marked by a Tedford sign, I was still shocked by my lack of awareness. 

This summer, as the Maine Community Fellow at Tedford Housing, my primary job is to evaluate and improve Tedford’s volunteer program. However, in order to do this work, I need to be familiar with the needs of the community of Brunswick and the nonprofits and individuals seeking to address these needs. Over the course of the last several weeks, I have spent much of my time talking to staff at other nonprofits, active community members, and guests at Tedford’s shelters in order to deepen my understanding of the pressing, yet often overlooked, challenges that exist right here in Brunswick. 

Although my time at Tedford has just begun, I have come to witness how homelessness intensifies every other struggle an individual faces. Food insecurity, domestic abuse, substance abuse, and mental health issues are all escalated by homelessness. In high school, I spent significant time focused on anti-poverty efforts through the lens of education. My belief in the transformative power of education has certainly not diminished, however, I have quickly adopted the mindset of Housing First. 

Without the stability of a place to stay each night, it is unlikely that someone facing homelessness will have the ability to devote sufficient energy to seek out additional resources. Homelessness produces a short-term mindset because an individual has to constantly worry about physical safety and shelter. Before someone can be expected to take the necessary and often complicated steps to improve their situation, they should have access to housing, nutritious food and support. 

My role in furthering Tedford’s mission of “creating pathways from homelessness to home by partnering with people and their communities in Midcoast Maine,” is to increase community support through volunteers. In beginning this work, I met with the volunteer coordinators at Midcoast Hunger Prevention Program and The Gathering Place to learn about best practices in recruiting, retaining, and appreciating volunteers. Unlike MCHPP or The Gathering Place, some people do not know that it is possible to volunteer for Tedford. While Tedford’s volunteer program is not as developed as that of our partners, Tedford still relies on the contributions of volunteers to support its services. 

Volunteers for Tedford work in the office, the storage unit that houses donations, the gardens, and in their own kitchens. Tedford’s largest volunteer effort is the Meal-A-Month program through which restaurants, churches, neighborhood groups and individuals take turns providing a meal for guests at the adult shelter every single night of the year. 

Beyond our Meal-A-Month program, Tedford Housing is currently looking to grow our other volunteer roles. If you are a gardener, you can help maintain our plots at our family shelter and affordable housing units. If you are creative and organized, you can help us connect entering and exiting guests with donated items. If you are already a supporter of Tedford Housing, you can help us relaunch the Friends of Tedford group. These are just a few of the ways you can get involved in Tedford Housing’s mission. If you are interested in volunteering or becoming more involved with Tedford, please email me at volunteer@tedfordhousing.org. We would love to have you join us in Tedford’s many initiatives to end homelessness. 

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