How We Serve | The Gathering Place

The Gathering Place is a downtown refuge where everyone is welcome.

Located across from Hannaford on Union Street, 80 or 100 people may call on a typical day. It’s safe and comfortable. A place to read the paper, have a cup of coffee, work on puzzles or use the computer to search for jobs or an apartment.

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It serves as a destination for those who might otherwise hang out on the corner, an office for those who need to fill out forms and, perhaps, most important of all, a diversion from the despair that often accompanies homelessness.

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The Gathering Place offers respect and hospitality to every guest.

We don’t keep statistics other than the number who visit each day. We don’t ask who they are, where they live or what their circumstances may be. But our volunteers and guests get to know each other pretty well just the same.

Many of our 50 or so volunteers have been there from the start and most have been amazed to find that not only can they help the poor but that the poor can help them as well. Our halls are filled with so many generous, remarkable people.

Those of us who have been privileged to meet them have been enriched by the relationships we have formed.

So many tragic events happen elsewhere, it can be tempting to imagine Brunswick as a haven of safety.

Relatively speaking, of course, it is. A wonderful, prosperous place to live– for most of us.

There is a less fortunate segment of our community, however. A segment engulfed in homelessness, addiction, mental illness, suicide and despair, sometimes with fatal results. Thankfully, the lives of most of the homeless and desperately poor don’t end this way.

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Nevertheless, most of the deeply poor or homeless plan to stay in Brunswick where many were raised.

Because they do, those who work and volunteer in social services come to know them personally and are as likely to count them as friends as they are clients.

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Thanks to the efforts of so many individuals and institutions, Brunswick is an eminently livable place with much to offer residents, business, students and visitors. It is this very spirit that gives hope to the poor and homeless.

Put yourself in their position. Then consider what you might be able to do.

Contrary to what one might think; we are not really all that different. Here are six stories shared by folks who visit The Gathering Place.

Mark, the single parent, who was raising his teen age son and working at a field management level in the construction industry. His son got cancer in his mid teens, and was hospitalized for a lengthy time in Boston. All during that time, Mark traveled to Boston in the evening to see his son, usually returning home around midnight or later. Five hours sleep was insufficient, and his employer put him on notice, until Mark’s son died. After his death, the hospital presented Mark with a bill almost $2 million beyond his insurance coverage, and his employer let him go. Mark’s only recourse was to sign his house over to the hospital. He became homeless, and for a time he drank too much. When he came to The Gathering Place, he had become sober and was trying to put his life back together. The last we saw of him was as he left for Pennsylvania where he had family.

Don and Carla. Don, a U.S. Army veteran, receives a small disability pension, and Carla receives a small disability pension as well, due to a chronic condition. Their adult son Aaron lives with them, as his schizophrenia makes him unable to be on his own. The family depends on Don to get odd jobs during the summer to supplement their inadequate pension income. This past year, in May while Don was working for a customer, the foot of the ladder he was on kicked out, with the result that Don fell and broke bones in his vertebra, just a fraction of an inch away from a nerve that would have paralyzed him. The result was that Don was unable to work for 4 months, and unable to earn the extra money they needed. They are now falling further and further behind on their bills.

Sally came to The Gathering Place two years ago, escaping from a dangerous and physically abusive husband in another state. Changing her name for protection from him, she manages to work 2 jobs to support herself and her 2 children. Between her two jobs she comes to The Gathering Place for friendship and support from folks who understand her plight.

Alan, a promising college football player, had a bright future ahead of him in his native state in the south. Until, that is, he had to give up football due to injuries. Losing his scholarship, he was forced to leave school. However, he was able to get good paying jobs in the offshore oil industry, and later on offshore fishing vessels. Until ill health intervened, when due to diabetes he began losing his toes one by one. At present he walks with a cane, and is unable to work at any job for which is has experience and qualifications.

Bonnie. Formerly married to a successful electrical contractor, Bonnie lived a solid middle class life, until both financial ruin and divorce struck almost simultaneously. Now, in her late 60’s, she is nearly destitute, far from the life she once knew.

Amanda, a promising musician, who was struck by an aneurism in her late 30’s. Amanda was unconscious for many months, supported by both her husband and her parents, despite the doctor’s insistence that she be allowed to die. In a miracle of healing, she awoke one day, to the joy of her husband who was in her room at the time. After many months of rehab, she was able to return to her earlier life, although she was diminished by the experience. Tragedy struck again, however, as her husband died at a young age of cancer. Amanda is fortunate enough to have a subsidized apartment, and to have resumed some volunteer musical activities.