Circle of Hope's Emergency Response to Life-Threatening Temperatures

Mayor Michelle Wu declared a “cold emergency” for Boston from Friday, February 3 through Saturday, February 4. The wind chill this weekend is predicted to drop as low as -27 degrees Fahrenheit. These frigid temperatures put everyone at risk, but can be especially life-threatening for people experiencing homelessness.

Late in the afternoon on Thursday, February 2, Circle of Hope received an urgent call for coats from Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program (BHCHP). They were very worried about their patients as the coldest days approached.

The Circle of Hope team had left for the day, but knowing the urgency of this request, Director of Operations Jody Barnet jumped into her car and drove directly back to Circle of Hope with her daughter. Together, the two filled bags with 150 brand new winter coats, hats, thermals, gloves, and blankets. Shortly after, BHCHP Director of Development Linda O’Connor picked up the winter essentials and immediately begin giving them to patients in deepest need. Linda wrote:

“I can’t thank you and the COH team enough for coming to our rescue tonight! You won’t believe this, but when I saw the big beautiful bags near the back door with the “light on” just waiting to be picked up, I got choked up. For you and the volunteers to pull this amazing donation together means the world to us, and especially to our patients.”

Circle of Hope responds to all emergency requests within 24-48 hours, but this was our fastest yet, taking just a few hours. We were prepared to spring into action to respond to this crisis because of our generous and compassionate donors. We would like to extend our deepest gratitude to the companies, community groups, families, and individuals who have donated warm coats and accessories this winter. Your generosity is protecting the lives of more than 150 our most vulnerable neighbors experiencing homelessness during these extreme temperatures.

Homelessness and Maternal Health

Pregnant woman in green shirt and black jacket receiving new clothing donations from Circle of Hope

January 23 is Maternal Health Awareness Day.

Homelessness has a significant impact on maternal health, which refers to the physical and mental health of mothers during and immediately after pregnancy. Women experiencing homelessness are more likely to have complications during pregnancy and birth than stably housed women. (1) Major stressors like homelessness also increase the risk of Postpartum Depression and Postpartum Anxiety. (2) Moreover, babies born to mothers experiencing homelessness are more likely to be born early and have lower birth weights.

Despite having more complications, women experiencing homelessness attend fewer prenatal appointments than stably housed women. (3) Lack of transportation, lack of childcare, and irregular insurance coverage are just a few of the healthcare barriers women experiencing homelessness face. Distrust of healthcare providers - particularly for women of color who have experienced racism in the healthcare system - is another. (4)

Circle of Hope strategically partners with hospitals and clinics that improve access to prenatal and postpartum healthcare for women experiencing homelessness by providing treatment in various locations, including shelters. Through these partnerships, Circle of Hope provides pregnant and postpartum moms experiencing homelessness with clothing, hygiene essentials, and personal care items to support their recovery and overall health. We also give them infant essentials like clothing, diaper cream, wipes, and baby wash, so they have everything they need to confidently care for their newborns. By providing brand new porta-cribs, Circle of Hope gives infants a safe place to sleep in shelter and improves maternal mental health by enabling moms to get some sleep as well.

In the past year, Circle of Hope has received more urgent requests to help pregnant and postpartum moms and newborns than ever before. Your donations of maternity clothing, infant clothing, Welcome Baby Bags, and New Mom Kits directly support the mental and physical health of moms and babies experiencing homelessness and facilitate vital bonding and attachment in the vulnerable early months. Please visit our How to Help page for more information on how you can support families experiencing homelessness.

 

Sources:

  1. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2019

  2. Mayo Clinic, 2022

  3. Housing Matters, 2019

  4. BMJ Quality & Safety, 2022

Give the Gift of Hope this Giving Tuesday

Dear Friends,

November 29, 2022 is Giving Tuesday, a global movement founded on the belief that every act of generosity has the power to change a life.

More than ever, we know this to be true. This year, your generosity enabled Circle of Hope to answer every urgent call for help from our partner shelters and programs. Mark Goldschmidt, Resiliency for Life Program Coordinator at Framingham High School, described the impact of Circle of Hope's donations on students experiencing homelessness:

"For these students to get the clothes and toiletries they desperately need while also experiencing kindness and generosity towards strangers restores some of their faith in humanity and in their sense of control over their own future."

Your generosity has the power to improve physical and mental health, restore agency, and build a sense of community for children and adults experiencing trauma. Please give a gift today to meet the urgent needs of thousands of families and individuals in Boston and MetroWest.

Thank you for your life-changing support.

Most gratefully,

Barbara Waterhouse, Founder & Executive Director

P.S. It's easy to donate in honor of a loved one this holiday season! Simply include the honoree's name and address in the "Additional Comments" box at the bottom of the online donation form. We will send them a card acknowledging your thoughtful and impactful gift!

Inspire Giving

Download a COH Giving Tuesday pledge card and share it on social media to inspire your friends and family to give as well! Be sure to tag Circle of Hope and use the hashtag #GivingTuesday.

@CircleOfHopeNeedham (Instagram / LinkedIn)

@CircleOfHopeBOS (Twitter)

Go-To Crew Request: NEW blankets and comforters (full/twin sizes)

Survivors of domestic violence in emergency shelter urgently need your help.

Please help these vulnerable families stay warm this winter by donating new blankets and comforters (full/twin sizes).

Purchase these items from our Amazon Wish List or your preferred online retailer. Ship your donations to Circle of Hope at 1329 Highland Ave, Needham, MA 02492 or schedule your appointment to drop them off in person.

Please note we can only accept brand new bedding. Thank you very much for your support!

About the Go-To Crew

The Go-To Crew is a group of individuals who receive email alerts about our urgent donation needs. Members of the Go-To Crew help us respond within 24-48 hours to urgent requests from our partner programs on behalf of specific families or individuals in crisis.

When we receive an urgent request from a shelter or we are running dangerously low on a certain item, we send an email to the Go-To Crew listing the specific needs. Go-To Crew members ship the items to Circle of Hope or drop the items off in person during the hours listed in the alert. Our volunteer drivers bring the donated items directly to the family, individual, or shelter in need right away. On average, we send Go-To Crew requests once per month and members can respond to as many or as few as they would like.

Meeting the Growing Needs of Families in Crisis

About Family Homelessness. Since Circle of Hope’s inception in 2008, family homelessness has risen faster in Massachusetts than nearly any other state. More than 3,000 families are homeless statewide. Many of Circle of Hope’s partner family shelters are at capacity, with more new families seeking help every week. 

The state’s high rate of family homelessness is due in large part to the high cost of housing and stagnant wages. Massachusetts is the third most expensive state for renters; to afford a two-bedroom apartment, one needs to earn an hourly wage of $33.81. The minimum wage in Massachusetts is currently $14.25. Massachusetts also has the most expensive childcare in the country, making it even more difficult for low-income families with young children to get by. The average family experiencing homelessness in MA includes a single mother with two young kids. And people of color experience homelessness at disproportionate rates due to a long history of housing discrimination and systemic racism.

Families experiencing homelessness in MA are housed in four types of emergency shelter: congregate shelters, scattered site shelters, co-shelters, and hotels/motels. Most of Circle of Hope’s partner shelters are congregate emergency shelters, which house multiple individuals or families in one building. In 2022, we also began serving families in scattered site shelters, a type of emergency shelter consisting of individual apartment units where families live temporarily. Families stay in shelter for six months to a year, on average.

Our Growth. Over the past 14 years, Circle of Hope has grown to keep pace with the increase in family homelessness. As Boston family shelters overflowed in 2016, we expanded into MetroWest to continue serving families who were being relocated to suburban shelters. We partnered with Clinton House Family Shelter and Pearl Street Family Shelter, both operated by South Middlesex Opportunity Council (SMOC), to serve 20 families experiencing homelessness at a time. In 2022, our SMOC partnership grew when we began serving another 120 families in scattered site shelters throughout MetroWest. No other organization or agency is meeting their most basic needs for vital clothing, hygiene supplies and other health necessities.

This year, we expanded our Emergency Response Program to meet the increasing needs of families in immediate crisis. With a full stock of emergency clothing kits, packaged by size and gender identity, we stand ready to answer every urgent call for help from our partner programs. Already this fall, Circle of Hope responded to multiple requests to help families with urgent, time-sensitive needs, including a pregnant mom at Pearl Street Family Shelter with her infant and toddler sons, a mother and five children at Bowdoin Street Health Center who lost their home in a fire, and seven women in SMOC scattered site shelters with high-risk pregnancies.

Your Impact. Last year, you helped provide seasonally appropriate clothing, shoes, linens, and hygiene essentials to nearly 25,000 people, including 3,400 children and 1,100 infants. You shared warmth, protected dignity, and improved health for thousands of people experiencing homelessness. You helped new moms recover and confidently care for their newborns during the fragile postpartum period. You gave babies experiencing homelessness a safe place to sleep in shelter. You gave parents the essentials they needed to keep their children safe and healthy throughout the school day and helped kids get the education they deserve. You gave newly arrived families the coats and accessories they needed to face their first New England winter.


Please donate to our Annual Campaign to help us continue answering every urgent call for help. We can’t thank you enough for your support.

Your Gift Helps Families in Crisis

Two photos. On the left, a girl in a pink coat smiles on a playground. On the right, a newborn baby lays in his mother's arms in a hospital bed.

Dear Friends,

Family homelessness is on the rise in Massachusetts and many family shelters Circle of Hope serves are beyond capacity.

This year, we expanded our Emergency Response Program to meet the increasing needs of families in crisis. We also launched a new pilot partnership with Framingham High School to help students experiencing homelessness and began serving families in scattered site shelters across MetroWest.

Your generosity made it possible for us to help more people than ever before.

When a high school student and his mother narrowly escaped a house fire, you helped them recover by replacing their lost clothing and shoes. You gave a 22-year-old woman the clothing and hygiene essentials she needed to care for her three younger siblings. You provided warm clothing and coats to 35 families facing their first New England winter. You supported the physical and mental health of a grandmother and her six grandchildren by providing clothing in the correct sizes for the entire family.

Together, we can continue answering every urgent call for help. Please donate by December 31, 2022 to help thousands of families and individuals stay warm, healthy, and safe this year. Your gift will comfort someone experiencing trauma right now.

Thank you for your generous support!

Most gratefully,

Barbara Waterhouse

Founder, Executive Director

A Transformative Gift to Circle of Hope

Two men and two women in cocktail attire stand together under an event tent

It is with profound gratitude that we announce Circle of Hope received an extraordinarily generous donation from Suzanne and Robert Nethercote in August. The largest donation in Circle of Hope’s 14-year history, the Nethercotes’ gift will support and amplify Circle of Hope’s mission-specific immediate needs and help thousands of children and adults experiencing homelessness in Boston and MetroWest.

Sue and Bob are longtime supporters of Circle of Hope. Deeply motivated to help others, the Nethercotes and their family are also generous with their time. Their daughter Sarah Nethercote Escobedo Hart is the Director of Development at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and has served on the Circle of Hope Board of Directors since 2016. Sarah and Sue have partnered together on a number of occasions to help Circle of Hope. One memorable year for our annual fundraising event, Sue put her interior design skills to work and decorated a mermaid themed girls room to benefit Circle of Hope’s mission. When a 2019 fire destroyed a building in Boston, Sue and Sarah (pictured) sorted clothing at COH for the displaced families and made an emergency delivery immediately after the fire. 

“My parents have devoted their lives to helping underserved and displaced populations," Sarah said. "Nothing brings them more satisfaction than supporting these most vulnerable families. I am so proud of their extraordinary generosity and delighted that Circle of Hope will be able to continue fulfilling their mission.”

“On behalf of the entire Circle of Hope team and the people we serve, I give my heartfelt thanks to Sue and Bob Nethercote for their transformative gift to Circle of Hope,” said COH Executive Director Barbara Waterhouse. “With this gift, the Nethercotes will impact the lives of thousands of vulnerable families and individuals in need of help and hope.”

Welcoming Circle of Hope's New Board Member

We are excited to introduce Circle of Hope's new Board of Directors Member, Mariette Bien-Aime Ayala, PhD!

Dr. Ayala is Director of Urban and Off-Campus Support Services (U-Access) at the University of Massachusetts (UMass) Boston. She completed her MA in Student Affairs and Higher Education at Indiana University of Pennsylvania in 2013 and her PhD in Urban Education, Leadership and Policy at the University of Massachusetts Boston in 2019. She was born in Boston and has close ties to her family in Haiti. She enjoys working as an advocate for underrepresented youth in her community.

Dr. Ayala has been integral to the success of Circle of Hope's partnership with UMass Boston. As director of U-Access, she facilitates support for college students experiencing homelessness and housing insecurity and distributes COH donations to those in deepest need of our help. We are excited to welcome her to the COH Board of Directors, where her policy expertise, nonprofit board experience, and unique perspective as a COH partner will inform operations and amplify our mission helping students and families experiencing homelessness.

Circle of Hope | 1329 Highland Ave. Suite 3, Needham, MA 02492

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