It was frigid in Brunswick on Friday, with daytime temperature barely topping 20 degrees, and the nighttime low expected to hit 7 degrees. But things were warmer inside The Gathering Place, a day shelter that was bustling with people: one group played cards in a corner, while others chatted, drank coffee and had a bite to eat.
It used to be that services like this were only available at The Gathering Place during the mornings and afternoons, and sometimes on especially cold winter nights. But that changed this year. People experiencing homelessness or other challenges can use the space any night this winter, thanks to a nearly $100,000 grant from MaineHousing and some hard work by local people.
The shelter has been operating for 14 years, providing light food, coffee, clothes and resources such as housing vouchers to people in Brunswick without homes. Before this year, it also served as an emergency warming center on a limited basis, keeping its doors open overnight when the weather dropped below 20 degrees.
But homelessness and housing insecurity have grown across the midcoast region in recent years, and communities have responded in various ways. Brunswick and other towns have provided funding to another organization, Tedford Housing, to expand its emergency homeless shelters. In Rockland, residents are finally laying the groundwork to open their own overnight warming center.
At The Gathering Place, the urgency to keep an overnight shelter open all winter really grew after one of its regulars, Russell Williams, froze to death in 2019, said Executive Director Mary Connolly.
“We were keenly aware of the fact that there is just a real gap in resources, and what can we do to help make sure that this doesn’t happen to somebody again in our community?” Connolly said.
The organization initially had trouble securing funding from MaineHousing, because it wouldn’t be able to keep the overnight shelter open all seven nights of the week, according to Brunswick Town Councilor Abby King.
But the shelter overcame that hurdle by bringing in trained staff from Linda’s Home Care Planning and Staffing in Topsham and resources from other groups in the area, giving it the ability to stay open overnight all week. With that change, it received a grant of $96,000.
Now, the shelter usually has two people on staff overnight, Connolly said, except for some cases — like during the recent twin storms that battered Maine’s coast — when there are three staffers.
The more regular overnight hours now seem to be driving up the overall interest in the shelter, with more people coming in during the days.
“I’ve seen at least a couple [guests] who come during the day now that they’ve seen what the place is about, gotten more comfortable here… which is great,” said Matt Barry, the organization’s community navigator.
Barry said he’s currently working to secure housing for 16 to 20 people, and he was able to do so for a few people last week.
Candi York, a guest at The Gathering Place who is currently experiencing homelessness, said that she has spent a few nights at the shelter, which she finds to be a safe and warm place. She credited the staff with helping her tremendously, including to secure a voucher to get into another shelter with beds.
“They do really assist people with a lot of resources,” York said. “They’ve opened up every night, and I lived in a tent for about a year and a half, all last year. And finally getting the voucher has changed things.”
Before the COVID pandemic, Connolly said The Gathering Place would see about 100 guests per day. The numbers dropped dramatically during the pandemic, but they’re rising again. She said the shelter now sees about 70 guests per day.
And as the weather gets colder, more people are utilizing the night shelter as well, Connolly said. Thursday night was the group’s busiest yet, with 20 total visitors, including 11 who stayed the full night. Some people come to just get warm and dry, while others use the night shelter to rest or sleep, Connolly said.
Connolly noted that the shelter has seen an uptick in guests who are women over 60 and mothers with children. She’s not sure why — it could be growing housing rental prices — but she said protecting such vulnerable populations is important to The Gathering Place’s mission.
“The cost of living has just changed people’s ability to live more comfortably. It’s just been really hard,” Connolly said. “And rents are crazy, and they keep going up. And you know, people, they just can’t, they can’t do it.”
However, while the overnight shelter has been successful so far, it’s unclear how sustainable it will be. It will need more funding from MaineHousing or another source to open again next winter and into the future, according to Connolly. With the help of the community, though, Connolly hopes that one day, the organization will grow to accommodate even more people.
“I don’t feel like it’s our program, per se,” Connolly said. “I feel like it came out of this collaborative or this community-wide need and sort of desire to do more. And we just happen to be in a position to host it.”
The Gathering Place is located at 5 Tenney Way in Brunswick. Visitors are urged to call the shelter ahead of time to ensure there is capacity.
