Giving Voice: A personal journey
When I first moved to the Brunswick area, I did not see the poverty and poor people. It was not as though I had never seen poverty. I had worked in the inner-city of Cleveland, Ohio for 20 years in the ’60s and ’70s, where I dealt with such issues and the people caught up in them. I then lived in rural Vermont for several years where I was also involved in such issues. However, when I looked at Brunswick’s prosperous Maine Street, the college on the hill, the stately churches, I did not see poverty.
However, around 2009, the then-director of Tedford Housing, the local homeless shelter, asked the local faith community to see if any religious organizations had space which they were willing to have used as overflow space. Tedford was turning away a dozen or more people most nights. I was one who volunteered, along with two others, to investigate.
We contacted several churches in the area and found none had space available, because their schedule was full and/or they did not meet the strict requirements set by the state of Maine for overnight use. By then I was becoming aware of the scope of homelessness in our communities. As a part of our effort, we had visited several programs for the poor and homeless elsewhere. Out of our experiences, we began to ask, “If we can’t find overflow space, what can be done for the homeless and the very poor and isolated in the Brunswick area?”
Others joined in our discussions and soon The Gathering Place came into being as a day shelter. Starting small, The Gathering Place has grown to where 80-100-plus different individuals are served daily. Some people come a few times and others have been coming regularly for years. Old people and young, homeless and those who have been or soon will be, the lonely and the bored, all come.
I have volunteered at The Gathering Place since it opened in 2011. I can no longer say that I don’t recognize the faces of poverty and homelessness in the Brunswick area. I see an exhausted man who works three jobs to pay child support and rent. I see one who is lying on the floor writhing in agony as he fights drug addiction. I see those whose faces are covered with tears as they struggle with grief over the death of family and friends. I see the agony of broken relationships. I see people lining up when the daily delivery of donated sandwiches from The Rusty Lantern arrives in the morning. Many have not eaten since lunch the previous day at the Hunger Center. I see the fatigue of the one who has walked the streets all night.
I also see the delight of a small child running around the room, and the joy in the faces of those who watch. I hear the pride in the voice that says “I been clean and sober for a week” or ten days or a month or more. I see those with nothing offering to help others. I hear the joy in “I got the job!” or “I’m in the program!”
Are things at The Gathering Place perfect? Has every one of our guests always made good choices? Is everyone there because he or she is too lazy to work or looking for a handout? Is everyone there looking to rob or steal from someone, anyone? No! That is not what I see. I see friends. I see people trying to catch a break. I see my neighbors
I wish the broader community would be more receptive to these neighbors. I wish Tedford Housing could find a place to expand their services. I wish there would be more medical services available. I wish that more addiction services were available. I wish there were more supported housing available. I wish more residents of the Brunswick area could see as I have come to see.
The Gathering Place is located at 5 Tenney Way and is open from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday-Friday and 8:30 a.m. to noon on Saturday. Drop in and see what is happening!
George Hardy, a resident of Brunswick, is a retired Presbyterian minister and a member of the board of The Gathering Place. Giving Voice is a weekly collaboration among four local non-profit service agencies to share information and stories about their work in the community.
