Audrey my roomate works at Women's Lunch Place, a drop in center for women in the basement of Church of the Covenant downtown. It is on Newbury street, a very high end neighborhood with expensive retail stores. A place where people don't always want a drop in center down the street http://womenslunchplace.org/
Disclaimer: When I sent most of you my fundraising letter in August I thought that would be my job here, so when I refered to connecting local food to soup kitchens, I was refering to the Women's Lunch Place. It was awkward the first few days when we'd describe our jobs and Audrey and I said the same thing.
It is much like Rosies place in that any woman is welcome. At Women's Lunch Place no one is checked to see if they are poor, if they are homeless, or if they are hungry. Anyone who identifies as a woman can come in, be fed, and find a community with other women. Breakfast, lunch, a place to sit, company of others, a warm shelter are free to anyone. They also offer education, guidance, personal support, counseling, or most anything the women need. This page tells about it and has a very inspiring video. http://womenslunchplace.org/our-work/ So is this one http://womenslunchplace.org/about-us/
Job or no job, house or no house, kids or no kids they are welcome. (sound familiar anywhere--maybe the words before communion "all are welcome"). Those women have to prove they need assistance so often, maybe there should be at least one place where they can come in and just be fed. In the breakfast line I spooned food onto plates for anyone who was in line, I didn't judge, I was told to portion eggs and oatmeal that was my job. Who cares where they spent the night, or where they'll go tonight. In that moment I was there to smile, and give out food. God doesn't want us to judge either. He wants us to see past that and love our neighbor, to feed his sheep.
They have good food. Josh, Audrey's boss, is a professionally trained cheif and he gets good food, from good sources and is working with Audrey to improve the quality of food, and she does a lot to get the women excited to eat their healthy fruits and vegetables not just the mashed potatoes and gravy. They had salmon for lunch on Friday! She also gets the church involved with the women in their basement as much as she can. Sometimes it's a challenge to bridge that divide between the church with Tiffany Stained glass, and the women in the basement.
That's been the message Audrey's been preaching to us. These are women, no different from any other women except they are down on their luck. Maybe they are down on luck, WLP doesn't check, they may be ok. As Christians we are called to see past economic class and love them. We can't just walk past the pan handlers and ignore them saying it's not our problem. It is our problem. That man asking for change, these women, the poor, the rich white man on the bus, the wall street banker, the people we sit next to in church are all our brothers and sisters. They aren't so much different than we are, life just worked out better for some of us for many reasons.
We are discovering how to love and nurture our neighbors in Boston. It's complicated, but hey, love is complicated too so it works out-- that's my hope at least.
From their website, a quick snapshot of services provided by WLP in FY13 -
- 71,352 nutritious breakfasts and lunches
- 3,151 naps, 2,592 showers, and 2,358 loads of laundry
- 2,128 medical visits with doctors, nurses, and mental healthprofessionals from Women of Means and Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program
- 1,622 advocacy visits
- 14,562 Resource Center visits
- 2,088 attended Creative Expressions activities.
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