In the News
Haven Celebrates 25 Years
Shelter Has Stayed True to Its Mission
By Kristen Fountain, Valley News Staff Writer
Reprinted with permission from The Valley News
Hartford—Each family who has stayed at the Upper Valley Haven since it first opened its doors as a shelter for the homeless has a story that is unique. But the common link, whether involving a severe medical problem, an abusive relationship or recovery from addiction, is crisis and stress.
When The Haven marks its 25th anniversary on Thursday evening with an open house and public program, the organization will reflect on an approach to helping families face those crises that is based in caring and respect.
That approach has not changed, said staff and supporters this week, throughout the organization's evolution from an idea nurtured by an ecumenical Christian prayer group, through its first year with a live-in staff of two in a rehabilitated old farmhouse, and up through The Haven's present location in a 2-year-old facility and with a $630,000 budget.
“Trying to do more than be a Band-Aid,” said Mary Feeney, shelter manager for the last 23 years, describing her view of their goal. “To start addressing causes or at least helping people become stabilized and believe in themselves again."
In addition to providing families with a place to live for several months, Haven staff also assist parents in locating available government and community resources, in setting goals for finding a permanent home, and offer classes on budgeting and parenting. Children have their own advocate on staff and there are planned after-school activities and weekend field trips.
The basis for all the work is building a relationship that goes on even after families have left the shelter, Feeney said. “It's a program where they really want you to change your life and it's up to you to do it,” said Hank Chalmers, who lived at The Haven with his wife and four children for a month this summer after moving back to the Upper Valley from Florida following a disabling accident. “Even though we don't live there now, we are still very connected,” Chalmers said. “Even more in friendship than in need."
By the summer of 1980, Bud Cederholm, the rector of St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Hartford, and Dick Cockrell, the rector of St. James Episcopal Church in Woodstock, and members of their congregations had been talking for a while about what they could do to help people who found themselves homeless in the Upper Valley.
“We were all aware of the needs of homeless people,” said Cederholm. “They would come to our churches on a regular basis."
The idea of a shelter came to life one day when Cockrell ran into Joan Williamson, later Joan Brewer, in the St. Paul's parking lot and their attention fell onto the For Sale sign that had recently been placed in front of the sprawling 1830s farmhouse next door.
By September, a small but expanding group of people began meeting weekly to read the Bible and pray and discuss opening a shelter. At first, the group was made up of the rectors and other Episcopalians, but soon Methodists from Lebanon, Catholics from White River Junction, Congregationalists from Quechee and members of the United Church of Christ got involved.
In March 1981, Joan Hixon Martin, a member of St. James Church, donated $57,000 to purchase the old house and volunteers from the various churches spent weekends that summer rehabilitating the house.
One of the first jobs was to dismantle a large falling-down barn on the property. The group fashioned a large cross from the barn's support beams and laid it on the lawn.
In a passage in the Bible, Jesus calls Christians who wish to follow him to pick up a cross, said Cederholm. “We laid it down so that it was an invitation to join us in our efforts,” he said. And through the years, many did.
When The Haven opened on December 14, 1981, Donna and Korty Church, a couple just out of college, lived in the house in exchange for running the shelter. Less than two years later, Feeney and her husband, Paul, took on that job.
For the next five years, they and a part-time bookkeeper were the only employees, she said. The rest of the work, from checking in new families to organizing the donated food and clothing, was done by volunteers, some of whom have worked at The Haven every week since its founding. “We've always had a very strong core and it would not work without them,” Feeney said.
Beyond the volunteers, the surrounding neighborhood supported the shelter through the permitting process, said Cederholm. And there were business owners and landlords across the region willing to employ people staying at The Haven and to rent to them, he said. “This was a community effort in the Upper Valley,” he said. “It still is."
Over the next two decades, The Haven expanded and became a more professional organization.
Its board of directors hired full-time advocates to work with the families staying at the house. In 2000, they brought on Tom Ketteridge, a former insurance company accountant, as its first and so far only managing director.
In May 2004, the organization moved into a new 13,000-square-foot building constructed on land that came up for sale next door.
Eight families can live in the new building, double the amount in the original house, and it was built to meet the organization's program needs. Space for the food shelf and clothing room also increased exponentially. The new location allowed the organization to grow even faster, said Ketteridge. “We're able to do things so much more efficiently,” he said.
While earlier The Haven would allow some single people to stay, the policy in the late 1990s became firmly families only, though not because of fears regarding safety, said Feeney. The decision was made because the staff and board did not want to have to turn families away.
“It would tear us apart,” she said. “The vulnerability of the children is much more profound.” The group is now looking for property to build a shelter for single adults.
An addition to the farmhouse built in 1987, which had originally opened as a spiritual learning center for the community, became the place where classes were held for residents.
In other ways, the organization's Christian roots became less obvious.
But the attitude and spiritual, if not Christian, bent remained by design, and has helped the organization remain vibrant, said Susan Stofflet, a long-time board member.
“Everyone takes great care if they are going off the board to replace themselves with someone of like mind, or, I should say, like heart,” she said.
When Stofflet began to raise the $2.4 million needed to design and construct the new building, there was strong support for the organization. It had gained a reputation at being thrifty, responsible and good at its work, she said.
“We became the surrogate good Samaritans for the Upper Valley,” said Stofflet.
“We were doing what people wanted to do themselves."
* An open house will be held at The Haven at 713 Hartford Ave. at 6 p.m. Thursday; an anniversary program follows at 7 p.m. at St. Paul's Episcopal Church next door.
Kristen Fountain can be reached at kfountain@vnews.com or (603) 727-3209.