MUSIC, MISSIONS and MINISTRY!
BRATTLEBORO CONCERT CHOIR
SPRING CONCERT
Saturday, May 19, 7:30PM and
Sunday, May 19, 3:00PM
Susan Dedell, Director of the Brattleboro Concert Choir, will lead "works by three contemporary choral composers -- Eric Whitacre, Moses Hogan and Alice Parker --in a program entitled 'American Idols.' The Choir will sing a grouping from Parker's 'Holy Manna' collection. The Choir worked personally with her in early May.
Moses Hogan is a leading force in rejuvenating the genre of African-American spirituals. The Chorus will be joined by soloists alto Jennifer Hansen, tenor/baritone Peter Shea, and soprano Margery McCrum.
Eric Whitacre is perhaps the most recognized contemporary American composer in years. For this program, the Concert Choir will sing 'Five Hebrew Love Songs,' for choir, violin, piano, soprano, and alto. The Choir will also sing his setting of ee cummings' 'i thank you god, for most this amazing day.'
Tickets are $15, $10 students, and can be purchased by calling 802-257-4523, or by visiting www.bmcvt.org." -- Brattleboro Reformer Ovation May 10, 2012
BRATTLEBOROB for fSSSSu
MUSIC: 103-year-old Estey Pipe Organ
Rehearsal and Performance Space Rentals
Large Concert Hall with Superb Acoustics
MISSIONS: Grace's Kitchen, free home-cooking, Wednesdays, 5:30 P.M.
Homeless Overflow Shelter, late November - April 1
MINISTRY: From the Pastor... remembering Melinda Holden Bussino...
Melinda Bussino gets a kiss from Governor Peter Shumlin after introducing him during a press conference in Guilford. (Zachary P. Stephens/Reformer file photo)
Monday March 5, 2012
BRATTLEBORO -- Melinda Bussino, a hero to many people in Windham County for her infinite patience, intelligence and compassion, died Sunday.
Bussino, 65, the one and only executive director of the Drop In Center, was transported to Brattleboro Memorial Hospital after suffering a heart attack last week. She was surrounded by friends and family all weekend.
For more than two decades, Bussino dedicated her life to helping others whether it was finding housing, food or clothing or assisting with employment.
Her motto was to work on one problem at a time and that by working together, things will get done.
Because of her selfless attitude, she helped thousands of people get back on their feet and her absence will leave a void in area that may never be filled, said one of her friends.
During a 2008 interview with the Reformer, Bussino described her work as the most fulfilling way to spend her time.
"These are mostly wonderful people with real hard times and sad stories," she said at the time. "It's not easy and you don't get rich, but you go home every night knowing that you've done something to make this world a better place."
This past weekend during Gallery Walk and the annual Gimme Shelter Dance, people raised more than $900 to help keep the Overflow Shelter open through April, said Larry Smith, president of the Brattleboro Area Drop In Center and who worked with Bussino on many service projects including Project Feed the Thousands.
"Someone like Melinda only comes along once in a life time," Smith said. "She was such an advocate for those in need."
One of Bussino's passions, the shelter provides warmth, food and a place to take a shower or do laundry for those without anywhere else to go, he said.
People wrote loving thoughts, messages, prayers and drew pictures in a guest book prior to the dance.
"The family wishes to thank everyone for their prayers and thoughts throughout this very difficult week," Smith said on behalf of the family.
Funeral arrangements are being made by Ker Westerlund Funeral Home and a date and time will be announced soon.
Josh Stilts can be reached at jstilts@reformer.com, or 802-254-2311 ext. 273.
OBITUARY. Melinda J. Holden Doyle Bussino 1946-2012.
BRATTLEBORO Melinda J. Holden Doyle Bussino passed away peacefully at Brattleboro Memorial Hospital on Sunday morning with her daughters by her side, surrounded by love and music. Melinda was born on Easter Sunday, April 20, 1946 in Boston, Massachusetts at 9:00 a.m.; the day and time her mother selected. She was the only child of Sharon V. Holden and E. Grace Fitzgerald Holden of Putney Rd., in Brattleboro, Vermont. Her parents were the proprietors of Holden Antiques.
She was raised in Brattleboro and attended Brattleboro public schools. She graduated, with honors, from Brattleboro Union High School, class of 1964. She earned her Silver B in her junior year. She was an active member of the First Baptist Church of Brattleboro. In March 1967, Rev. James Young, then First Baptist's minister, chose her to deliver the sermon in the initial Youth Sunday. As a child, her parents had her learn the name of every Vermont town on its eastern border with New Hampshire and took her on a tour of those towns when she succeeded. She attended Green Mountain Junior College in Poultney, Vermont for part of a semester, but decided on an undergraduate degree so she transferred to Keene State College. She graduated from Keene State College in June 1968 with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology.
In December 1967, she married Roderick H. O'Connor, formerly of Brattleboro. That marriage ended in divorce; however they remained close friends for life. She began her professional career working for the Strafford County NH Community Action Agency in Somersworth, N.H. as an Outreach Case Worker. During her time there, she was effective in local, state and New England-wide anti-poverty advocacy efforts. She was also promoted to a case work supervisor position with the Strafford County CAA.
She married Louis Doyle on Valentine's Day, 1974 in her parent's home in Brattleboro. Melinda became step-mother to two and she and Louis had two children in the next two years. In 1976, the family moved to Westminster West to settle on the Holden family property. They built a home there that Melinda has remained in since. Louis passed away in 1980.
In addition to jobs at the USPS in Putney and with Keith Banjo Tuners in Westminster, Melinda becaue secretary at the United Methodist Church in Brattleboro, Vt. in 1985. Her position there led to her involvement in the founding of the Brattleboro Area Drop-In Center. She became Executive Director in 1989 and grew the Drop-In Center from a small community service to a nationally recognized model for homeless advocacy. Melinda served as a Commissioner from Westminster on the Windham Regional Commission since 1995, was Vice Chair for three years, and was serving her fifth term as chair at the time of her death. In 2008, Melinda won the Housing Hero award at VHFA's statewide, biennial Vermont Housing Conference.
Melinda was a much-valued colleague, collaborating with her prtners in Vermont's housing and homelessness organizations. She was the most recent chair of the Vermont Council to End Homelessness. She also served as the Governor's appointee on the Housing and Urban Development Comsolidated Planning Committee and the Vermont Interagency Council on Homelessness. She had previously chaired the State Affordable Housing Coalition, Vermont Protection and Advocacy Board, the the Board of the Vermont Campaign to End Childhood Hunger. Melinda also served on the Westminster Planning Commission.
Mellinda married Fred Bussino of Rockingham in September of 1998. With that marriage she gained eight more step children and numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren; an honor and privilege that she cherished. Fred passed away in 2000 with Melinda by his side.
Melinda was an activist, an advocate, a leader, a teacher, a mother, a grandmother, and a friend. She loved her regular swimming, her church activities, and time in the woods of Westminster West. Melinda was a skilled skier since childhood, a love she passed along to all of her children. Her incredible work ethic was matched only by her generosity and commitment to helping those in need. She was an amazing woman who gave selflessly to all those around her.
Amongst her many great accomplishments, those she was most proud of were her children. While her life's work was for those without a voice, her greatest joy was in being a mother. Melinda is survived by a daughter, Sarah Doyle of Plainville, Conn.; a son, Joseph Doyle, of Westminster West.; a step-son, Geoff Doyle and wife, Megan, of Charlestown, Md.; a step-daughter, Liddy Doyle and husband, Alan Katzman, of Granby, Conn.; a foster daughter, Billie-Jo Wilder, of Bellows Falls; granddaughters, Reese Vigneau of Putney, Hannah and Molly Katzman of Granby, Conn.; a grandson, Myles Dakan, of Boston, Mass.; a granddaughter, Lauren Doyle, of Tulsa, Ok., a granddaughter, Rowan Doyle, of Charlestown, Md., a granddaughter, Lillianna Butler of Bellows Falls, Vt.; eight additional stepchildren, 35 step-grandchildren, and numerous step-great grandchildren as well as many cousins, beloved friends, and devoted colleagues. She was predeceased by her husband, Louis Doyle; husband, Fred J. Bussino; a stepdaughter; and her parents, Grace and Sharon Holden.
Calling hours will be at KER-WESTERLUND FUNERAL HOME on Friday, March 9 from 4 to 7 p.m. A service to celebrate Melinda's life will be held Saturday, March 10, at 1 p.m. at the First Baptist Church of Brattleboro. A brief offering to benefit the Brattleboro Drop-In Center will be accepted during the service. A reception will follow at the Masonic Temple next to the church. Interment will be private for family and close friends. The family requests that in keeping with Melinda's wishes, donations in lieu of flowers be made to the Brattleboro Area Drop-In Center, 60 South Main St., Brattleboro, VT 05301. Attn: In Memory of Melinda.
‘She gave her all’
Melinda Bussino, tireless advocate for the homeless, dies at 65
With additional reporting from Commons reporter Allison Teague. www.commonsnews.org.
Melinda Bussino, from a family photograph posted to her Facebook profile. The longtime executive director of the Brattleboro Area Drop In Center died Sunday at age 65.
Originally published in The Commons issue #142 (Wednesday, March 7, 2012).
By Randolph T. Holhut/The Commons
BRATTLEBORO—Melinda Holden Bussino of Westminster West, the executive director of the Brattleboro Area Drop In Center, died Sunday morning at Brattleboro Memorial Hospital. She was 65.
Bussino had been hospitalized since Feb. 25 after suffering a massive heart attack while swimming laps at the Colonial Hotel’s pool on Putney Road.
She has been the executive director of the Drop In Center since January 1989. The daytime shelter on South Main Street serves as a community food shelf and offers support services to people who are homeless. She also helped establish the Overflow Shelter at the First Baptist Church on Main Street in Brattleboro.
Bussino was known throughout the state for her tireless work on behalf of those in need. In a 2010 interview with The Commons, Bussino spoke of how she and her staff are faced every day with people who have given up hope, and how it is their job to help bring it back.
“Sometimes hope is all they have,” she said.
Bussino said that probably the most important part of what the Drop In Center offers is camaraderie and interaction with people who will not look down on or through them, and will look them in the eye.
“The homeless people in our world are invisible,” she said. “Most want to be invisible [because of shame and guilt], and it can become a way of being. When people come here, they are treated respectfully. No one is turned away.”
“I am surprised every day by the overall basic goodness of people,” Bussino continued. “Every day, one of my staff, a volunteer, someone in the community, one of our clients, or a stranger will do something that keeps my faith in people going.”
Tributes from friends, colleagues
State Rep. Mike Mrowicki, D-Putney, knew Bussino for nearly two decades, and as executive director of Putney Family Services since 1989, he had a special insight into her work.
“She dealt with a lot of people no one else wanted to work with,” he said. “But a lot of the people who now work at the Drop In Center started out on the other side of the counter.”
“I don’t know how she managed it all,” said Mary Ide. the regional manager of Vermont Adult Learning. “It was a Herculean task she performed. She was it, the face of the Drop In Center. She wasn’t just doing the day-to-day work. She had her hands on the pulse of everything, The rest of us pale compared to her.”
Ide said that Bussino “was absolutely straightforward with people. She dealt with a wide range of people, but she always was evenhanded and was always an advocate for those in need.”
Kim Nace of Brattleboro, a volunteer at the Overflow Shelter, said Bussino had a knack for getting people to pitch in to help.
“She gave her all to all those people, and inspired the rest of us to try to do the same,” Nace said.
Cynthia Terzariol, parish administrator of St. Michael’s Episcopal Church in Brattleboro, has worked with Bussino for more than 10 years at the Drop In Center and the Overflow Shelter.
“Melinda gave so freely of herself — days, nights, weekends — and would go all over the state to speak to any group who might help her people out,” Terzariol said. “She wore herself out and literally gave her life for the cause.”
At the same time, Terzariol said, Bussino was no pushover.
“No one could pull the wool over Melinda’s eyes,” she said. “She was a realist. She knew the obstacles her clients faced, and she did whatever she could for them. It’s going to take more than one person do do all the jobs she does.”
Dan MacArthur of Marlboro has volunteered at the Overflow Shelter, mostly on the 1-7 a.m. shift, for nearly all of its existence, and marveled at the way she could defuse a tough situation.
“Even when there was potential friction, she just waded in and did it,” he said. “Nothing wasn’t considered ‘Melinda’s job,’ she just did what needed to be done. Her boots were always on the ground. It simply is impossible for most people to figure out how to do all the things she did.”
And MacArthur said the people she served were grateful for that determination and hard work.
“One guy said to me last week, ‘Without Melinda, I’d still be running around barefoot,’” said MacArthur.
The Rev. Barbro Hansson, pastor of All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church in Brattleboro, said four words could sum up Bussino: “Confidence, competence, compassion, and can-do,” she said. “Especially the can-do part.”
“She grew the Drop In Center and, at the same time, grew with it,” Hansson said.
“She was way too young to be taken away from us. The town has lost one of its pillars, and the homeless have lost their best and most compassionate advocate,” she said.
A Native Vermonter
A sixth-generation Vermonter, Bussino was a 1964 graduate of Brattleboro Union High School. She graduated with B.A. in psychology from Keene State College in 1968 and worked as a casework supervisor and community organizer in New Hampshire before returning to Brattleboro in the late 1980s to help start up the Drop In Center.
Bussino has served as the governor’s appointee on the Housing and Urban Development Consolidated Planning Committee and the Vermont Interagency Council on Homelessness. She has previously chaired the State Affordable Housing Coalition, Vermont Protection and Advocacy Board, and the board of the Vermont Campaign to End Childhood Hunger.
She also served as the Westminster commissioner on the Windham Regional Commission (WRC). Since 2008, she served as the chair of the nonprofit regional planning agency’s board of directors.
“Melinda was a great model for what it means to be a caring Vermonter,” said Lew Sorenson of Dummerston, who served with Bussino on the WRC. “She was an amazing advocate for any individual with a need as well as community needs for the entire Windham region.”
According to family spokesman Larry Smith, funeral arrangements are being handled by Ker Westerlund Funeral Home in Brattleboro. A visitation is scheduled for Friday from 4-7 p.m. at the funeral home on High Street. A memorial service will be held on Saturday at 1 p.m. at the First Baptist Church. A private burial service for family members will be held on Sunday.
“The family wishes to thank everyone for their prayers and thoughts throughout this very difficult week,” Smith said on Sunday.
Bussino described as 'An army of one'
Posted: 03/06/2012 03:00:00 AM EST
March 6, 2012 12:11 PM GMT Updated: 03/06/2012 07:11:42 AM EST
Gov. Peter Shumlin gets a tour of the Brattleboro Drop In Center from Executive Director Melinda Bussino in this Feb. 18, 2011 file photo. (Zachary P. Stephens/Reformer)
Tuesday March 6, 2012
BRATTLEBORO -- When Melinda Bussino died Sunday the Brattleboro Area Drop In Center lost its director.
Her children lost their mother, and the town of Westminster, where she lived, lost an active community member.
And the town of Brattleboro, Windham County, and the state of Vermont lost a tireless and powerful advocate for social justice.
She was most well known as the executive director of the Drop In Center, and the co-founder of the First Baptist Church Winter Overflow Shelter.
But during her almost 15 years of work at the Drop In Center, Bussino also helped countless individuals find work, or a meal to eat or a place to stay.
"She had a vision," her daughter Sarah Doyle said during an interview Monday. "Everyone had a piece of what it should be like that, but no one saw the bigger picture.
"No one else knew how she did it. She just kind of made it so," Doyle said. "When (the Drop In Center) moved onto South Main Street it was exactly as she wanted it. She felt it was important that it felt like a home for people who did not have a home. She worked hard, but she never resented it. She loved what she did."
Beyond the well worn walls and floors of the Drop In Center on South Main Street, Bussino's tireless organizational abilities would be seen across Windham County, and the whole state of Vermont, when an advocate was needed for those who did not have as strong a voice.
"She took her passion and knowledge and shared it in ways that expanded people's understanding of what homelessness was about and how it related to other issues," said Sadie Fischesser, Agency of Human Services field service director for the Bennington and Brattleboro districts. "I don't know anyone in the state who is more recognizable than Melinda who advocated in the community for people who were most in need."
She worked with the annual Empty Bowls dinner and helped organize and support efforts to aid the homeless in Bellows Falls, and across the region.
"She was the most connected person I have ever known," said George Haynes, who co-founded Project Feed the Thousands, the Drop In Center's main annual fundraiser, 18 years ago with Larry Smith. "She knew everyone in Brattleboro and at the state and federal levels too. She was a leader. She knew what had to be done and she wouldn't rest until the work was finished."
From the very first days of Project Feed, Haynes said Bussino was the catalyst that kept the volunteers signed up and the donors, both large and small, committed.
She helped start a countywide group of advocates to make sure no one was duplicating services or missing a grant opportunity, and kickstarted an annual appeal for food and donation that would grow into Project Feed the Thousands.
Beyond all of that, she helped dozens, and probably hundreds of people understand their worth in a society that had cast them aside.
Six years ago William Davison was living in a tent along the Connecticut River.
Today he is assistant director of the Drop In Center, and lives in a house next door to where Bussino lived in Westminster.
Davison said Monday that it was impossible to imagine where he would be today without having had Bussino in his life.
"She gave me an opportunity to show what I could do," Davison said. "She knew I could do this and the rest is history."
"She always said that the clients come first. That's our mission," said Will Fay, who was recruited by Bussino to be a case manager. "The biggest disservice would be to close, for even one day on her account. That's not what she would have wanted. She always told us to focus on the client and that's what we are going to do."
Fay said the past week was very difficult for the staff, knowing that Bussino was in the hospital. He said while there were heavy hearts throughout the organization, Fay said everyone showed up for work Monday, knowing what needed to be done.
Bussino grew up in Windham County, and was quick to remind anyone that she was a seventh generation Vermonter.
Another prominent child of Windham County, Gov. Peter Shumlin, said Bussino's love of the people around her was one of the driving forces that led her into a life of public service.
"Melinda was a local kid who gave back to the community she loved," Shumlin said. "She did more for the poor, the homeless and hungry than anyone else I've known in Windham County She had boundless energy and she never let the enormity of the task let her down."
Melinda Bussino's family members, the Holdens, go back the 1700s, to one of the original settlers in Westminster.
She was born in Boston, and grew up in Brattleboro, in a house next door to her parents' antique store, Holden's Antiques, on Putney Road.
After attending local schools and graduating from Brattleboro High School in 1964 she received a degree in psychology from Keene State College in 1968.
She went to work in New Hampshire, for the Strafford County Community Action Agency, and met her future husband, Louis Doyle at a conference on homelessness and hunger in 1972.
They were married in 1974 and had two children.
The family moved to Waterbury, and Bussino raised her children, and step children, for a few years, until they moved back to Windham County and built a house on property on Windmill Hill that the Holden family had owned for more than two centuries.
Bussino lived there for the rest of her life.
In 1985 Bussino went to work as a secretary at the United Methodist Church.
A few years later Pastor Thomas Shanklin came up with an idea of starting a food shelf and Drop In Center for the homeless and hungry in the Brattleboro area.
Bussino had a bigger plan.
While Drop In Center board members started raising local money, Bussino stressed the importance of going after federal grants.
Early advocates wanted to open a food shelf, but Bussino knew there was a need for people to have a place to shower and do laundry, and just hang out and feel at home.
And while there were some who talked about the importance of keeping a lowkey profile, Bussino wanted the community to look hunger and homelessness in the eyes, and realize that the people who needed the Drop In Center were the same people who area residents saw every day in the street.
Bussino served on the board, and then in 1989, about a year after it opened, she became the executive director.
The first Brattleboro Area Drop In Center opened in Harmony Parking Lot, then moved to Arch Street, and finally to its present home on South Main Street.
For the next decade or so it became Bussino's home away from home.
In the following years Bussino would take part in countless organizations across the state.
She would help start advocacy groups and bring groups together so everyone was working in the same direction toward the same goal.
Fischesser served with Bussino on a number of local coalitions, many of which Bussino initiated, that brought everyone together into one room to address the many issues surrounding hunger and homelessness.
Anyone who would stop for a second and listen would end up working for her.
Vermont Food Bank Executive Director John Sayles said he was a little nervous when the statewide hunger organization moved down into Bussino's area.
Sayles said not only did Bussino welcome Sayles and his staff, but she made it clear that as long as they were working toward the same goal, that they would do so together.
"Melinda was amazingly welcoming and gracious when the food bank came down to southern Vermont," Sayles said. "It can be hard for nonprofits when the big dogs move in but she worked with us to make sure we could bring more support to people in the area. It's hard to overstate the importance that Melinda's work had on people in need in WIndham County."
Larry Smith, president of the Brattleboro Area Drop In Center board, said the board is going to meet Friday to talk about hiring a new director.
Smith, on Monday, characterized Bussino as an army of one, and said it will be impossible to replace her with even three or four people, let alone one.
Bussino helped fill the board seats, and Smith said in her way she prepared the organization to carry on without her.
She helped the board members understand what their roles were, and filled the staff with competent and dedicated people who understand what the Drop In Center needs to do to survive.
"She was the public face of the Drop In Center, but she trained all of us to make sure we could do this job," Smith said. "She is irreplaceable, but we're not worried. We'll make it through."
A public memorial service for Bussino will be held this Saturday, March 10, though the time and location are still being worked out.
The Reformer will report the details as they become available.
Howard Weiss-Tisman can be reached at hwtisman@reformer.com, or 802-254-2311, ext. 279
From the Pastor's Comments in the Annual Report, February 5, 2012...
"First Baptist Church was built on faith and prayer, beginning in 1867 and faith remains our cornerstone today. Our forefathers and foremothers created the foundation of First Baptist Church and we are the generations to carry on the important ministries they began so long ago.
Beloved congregation, we boldly move forth in faith. We continue to face many challenges and are faced with more challenges ahead. We sold our St. John the Divine Tiffany window in order to keep our doors open for God's ministry. Our roof is finally fixed as a result of this. For the fifth year we have partnered with the [Brattleboro Area] Drop-In Center, housing those less fortunate than we are. We can be proud that our church was the only one who would open her doors to those less fortunate than we are. For Jesus said that when we take care of the least of these, we are serving Him.
For another year, the team that serves Sunday breakfast has been a huge success, welcoming those in the community for a delicious meal. Grace's Kitchen continues to feed the hungry and share hope with those who are desperate and in need. Our guests not only come for a home-cooked meal, they come for fellowship and warmth as a respite from the troubles of this life.
We continue to support AA and the [Brattleboro Area] Pastoral Counseling Center and help them continue their ministries. Mission outreach reaches out to help others in need around the world.
New members were welcomed among us and baptisms brought all of us closer to Jesus. God continues to bless us with children and gifted Sunday School teachers. Our Deacons and Trustees are talented and dedicated in continuing the spirit of First Baptist Church, walking in the words of our Church Covenant, "That we will endeavor to live as worthy disciples of Him Whose Name we bear, seeking Christlikeness in character and in conduct, and striving to know and obey God's will." We are blessed with a committed congregation who believe that together, we will serve the Lord our God and preserve the American Baptist tradition.
Times are tough and we are often worried that our doors will close. As your pastor, I firmly believe that somehow, someway, our church will stay open. With faith and prayer, God will help us against all odds.
"So, then, let us rid ourselves of every thing that gets in the way...and let us run with determination the race that lies before us. Let us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, on whom our faith depends from beginning to end." Hebrews 12:1-2.
My beloved congregation, don't give up! Give everything you can to our church and to our God. Together we can go against all odds and continue to BELIEVE that God is with us!
By faith, we will trust in God's wisdom and will continue the important ministries of First Baptist Church. Together we will continue to climb the mountains God places before us as we faithfully trust in His will.
In Christ's Love, Pastor Sue"
Grace's Kitchen Report for 2011-2012:
We continue to serve a free evening meal for those in need, every Wednesday throughout the year. We continue to provide the only free evening meal in the area. Our teams consist of a leader (member of FBC) and volunteers from the area. The majority of our volunteers are not FBC members. Without these volunteers, our program would not survive. We thank the Trustees of First Baptist for their continued support of this program.
We serve between 25 and 30 [people] each week. There are times when we exceed this number. Our food is purchased through the Vermont Foodbank, along with donations from Grafton Cheese, the summer Farmer's Market, the Coop and others. Our monies consist of donations through various supporters in the area and offering envelopes at Sunday Services. We thank all our contributors.
Jeanne Deyo, Coordinator
OVERFLOW HOMELESS SHELTER REPORT for 2011 - 2012:
During the winter of 2010 - 2011 the Overflow Shelter provided 2,517 bed nights to 114 separate people. As we move through the current winter of 2011 - 2012 we are seeing a 49% increase in the number of people we are serving. We are also seeing an increased level of need in those we serve. This winter, through January [31], 2012, we had [90] separate people, all adults, stay at the Overflow, and we provided [1,500] bed nights of shelter.
All of this is done at the Drop In Center's oversight and at the Drop In Center's expense. For instance, we have paid $3,500 for oil for FBC, and have delivered to FBC many supplies [...]including: 3 cases of bathroom towels, 1 case of toilet paper, 2 cases of hot cups, 4 cases of coffee, 2 cases of sugar, 4 cases of large trash bags, a half case of light bulbs, and 2 large boxes of ice melt. [...]
We appreciate the generosity of First Baptist Church in providing us with a rent free space to run the Overflow, and we are attempting to see that we are covering the church's [related] expenses as we did in past years. Overflow guests, volunteers, and staff are providing some cleaning and snow shoveling as well.
We are doing our best to make sure everyone understands that because the bulk of our Overflow funding is federal funding, we have to keep clear boundaries between the Drop In Center and FBC so that we are not violating the separation of church and state. We welcome and encourage input from FBC around the Overflow, and we are most grateful to FBC for the commitment of space for us to shelter the homeless again this year. Please know that you are helping us to save lives! If you have any comments for us please contact me directly at 802-257-2005, x103, or badicmelinda@together.net, or see me after church. Thank you!
Melinda Bussino, Drop In Center and Overflow Executive Director
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