It seems almost an extraordinary gesture: to routinely open the doors of your home to those who are down on their luck and in need of a helping hand. But that seemed ordinary to a group of friends that included Nancy Schwoyer, Rosemary Haughton, four other women and one man. The seven New Englanders pooled $140,000 of their own money to buy a 17th century former inn in Gloucester, Mass. and turn it into a welcoming waystation of hospitality in 1981.
The idea was simple enough. People laid off from a job, or who lost income from illness, or whose rent was raised beyond their means, or were deserted by their partners — or fled from them — would have a safe place to stay and the caring, kinship and help of the seven founders, who shared quarters under the same roof, until their guests were on their feet again.
Now, nearly 30 years later, Wellspring House has grown beyond a family emergency shelter into a diverse organization that helped 2,145 people last year with job training, education programs, family support, mentoring and affordable housing. Of the original founders, Schwoyer served as executive director through 2008 and although now both retired, she and Haughton split their time between England, where Haughton is from, and visits to Wellspring, which remains their home when they are stateside.
Carol Brien is among the families who showed up at the Wellspring doorstep after her Salem, Mass. apartment went up in flames while she was cooking dinner for her two children one night in 1999. Without savings or insurance, the just-divorced single mom, who had immigrated to the US from Ireland in 1986, had no financial reserves to draw on and no stateside family to call on for help. Despairing and alone with two frightened children, Brien turned to the welcoming arms at Wellspring.
“The first night at Wellspring was the first time I’d slept peacefully since the fire,” says Brien, who with Schwoyer’s and Haughton’s help, earned her undergraduate degree, master’s degree in social work and found a permanent home. And what began as a temporary place to stay now has earned a permanent place in her heart. “Kindness helped me rise from the ashes and make a new life possible.”
It takes a village to help a village. Schwoyer’s successor, Executive Director Kay O’Rourke (at left) says that last year, 400 volunteers kept Wellspring House running, offering everything from babysitting services to parent mentoring to handyman work around the Wellspring properties. Other past supporters include former Reebok CEO Paul Fireman and New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft.
There are also 37 full and part-time staff members who run the Wellspring programs, which range from Mediclerk, a 13-week course that trains candidates for administrative positions in the healthcare field, to the Foundation Program, which is a cooperative education course linked to a nearby community college and offers college credits to participants.
“We’re an organization generally rooted in the community. Last year we had 400 volunteers so we understand that it’s only with their help that we can be so powerful and effective in the community,” explains O’Rourke. “We have this multiplier effect with the volunteer staff. We couldn’t pay all the tutors who work with our students. Our volunteers are fabulous, they’re talented and it’s the community who allows us to do what we do. Seventy-eight percent of our budget comes from private sources and that’s an astonishing thing. The fact that we stay so close to the community and funded by the community keeps us grounded in what the community needs. Neighbors can help neighbors and I think Wellspring is exceptional because of that.”
Sheila Hernandez thought her family would never be without a good home since she was the primary breadwinner and had a good job working as a ticketing agent for a major airline at Logan Airport. But after 9/11, she was laid off, her marriage fell apart and she struggled to support her four young sons. She worked two jobs but could not make ends meet and eventually made her way to Wellspring House where she was offered an apartment available to Wellspring guests. She eventually found an affordable apartment and turned her experience into a position as a case manager for relocation and stabilization at Wellspring House.
Hernandez herself believed that people who were homeless were lazy and didn’t work hard enough, but now she knows firsthand that an illness, layoffs, or bad luck can happen to anyone. “I know because that was the perception I had about homeless families, but I never thought it could happen to my family.”
On May 3, Wellspring celebrated with the 12th Annual Women Honoring Women Luncheon, a benefit at which Paula Cole (at right) performed in front of 550 attendees. Among those honored were Carol Provenzano and Jackie Littlefield, two of the original co-founders, longtime Wellspring volunteers and supporters. ”As a society, we need to empower women to achieve their fullest potential,” says Cole.
O’Rourke adds, “Wellspring’s work expresses an understanding that people need a safe place to call home, education that liberates minds and jobs that pay a living wage to break out of poverty.”
Photos courtesy of Wellspring House.
