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Wellspring in the News
Click here to see the "Assignment America" piece on Wellspring House from CBS News from Friday, January 12th entitled "A Good "Old" Homeless Shelter".
GLOUCESTER, Mass., Jan. 12, 2007(CBS) It
could be a museum, or at least a bed and breakfast. The
Wellspring House in Gloucester, Mass., is 350 years old — and
beautifully restored, CBS News correspondent Steve Hartman reports in
this week's Assignment America.
"The floorboards are original, the fireplace is original, the central beams are original," says Nancy Schwoyer. "In some ways it is a bed and breakfast, isn't it? It's just that it's a bed and breakfast for homeless families." Schwoyer runs Wellspring — easily America's nicest homeless shelter. Families who stay there are considered guests. They eat the same food at the same time and table as the staff. And they can stay as long as they need to. Schwoyer says she does it "because it's the human thing to do." So how does she get people to leave? Not a problem. "Oh, as beautiful as this is, it's not their own home," she says. Wellspring started in 1981 when Schwoyer and a group of friends from church decided to buy a house, live in it together and share it with homeless families. "And support them in whatever they needed to get on their feet," Schwoyer adds. Since then, through donations and grants, Wellspring has expanded its building and its scope. It now offers everything from classes on finding jobs to the clothes for landing them. Perhaps because Wellspring is so comprehensive, its success rate is phenomenal: 80 percent of people who come to the homeless shelter are never homeless again. "When the squeal goes through this house and word comes up to my office, as it has many times, 'I got my housing,' there's just nothing like it," Schwoyer says. "Nothing, nothing, nothing like it." Jane Mwongelli and her daughter Meggie are the latest celebrants. Mwongelli fled an abusive husband with basically nothing. Now she's a first-time homeowner, studying to be a nurse. "I am going to make it," Jane says. Assignment America Top Pick: Wellspring HouseWellspring House to be Featured on CBS Evening News with Katie Couric on January 12th, 2007GLOUCESTER, Mass. (Monday, January 8, 2007) — A local, grassroots email and flyer campaign had national impact when a majority of the 7.5 million television viewers of CBS Evening News with Katie Couric picked Wellspring House, one of Cape Ann’s most valued community organizations, as the story they’d most like to see on the CBS Evening News Assignment America segment on Friday, Jan. 12. Last Friday, a teaser about Wellspring House was featured in the CBS Evening News Assignment America segment with Steve Hartman. After watching the segment, television viewers were prompted to log on to the CBS News website and vote for which of the three segments they’d like to see turned into a larger, more in-depth feature story that will air in a subsequent newscast. On Monday, Jan. 8, award-winning reporter Steve Hartman and a CBS News crew traveled to Gloucester to film a feature story about Wellspring House that will air on Friday, January 12. For the past 25 years, Wellspring House has been helping families move out of poverty and achieve more secure and fulfilling lives. Along with advocacy work, Wellspring House provides education, emergency shelter, affordable housing, job training, family support, and mentoring programs. In an effort to drum up the support of the entire community, Cape Ann Chamber of Commerce and the West End Theater are among the organizations that conducted email campaigns to inform their members about Wellspring’s national television opportunity and encourage them to watch the news segment and vote online. Local supermarkets like Shaw’s and Stop and Shop, and mom-and-pop stores like The Last Stop Variety and Valentino’s Pizza Restaurant, distributed thousands of flyers in shopping bags and on pizza cartons. Wellspring Co-founder and Executive Director Nancy Schwoyer is excited by the national television opportunity for the 25-year-old organization and equally as touched by the outpouring of community support, she says. “It is wonderful for a national spotlight to shine on an issue that America needs to know about – that the answer to solving poverty is not creating shelters, but providing job training, education and affordable housing,” Schwoyer says. “As always, I am grateful for the community support that has always embraced Wellspring House and that such a local grassroots effort had such a national impact.” CONTACT: Anne Driscoll
(617) 269-7171 Wellspring House on CBS Evening News with Katie CouricWellspring House Needs Your Vote on January 5th and 6th, 2007 Watch the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric on Friday, Jan. 5 at 6:45 p.m. to see a short preview about Wellspring House and then vote for Wellspring House online at www.cbsnews.com after the show. The Gloucester-based nonprofit, which has been helping families move out of poverty for 25 years, will be featured as part of Assignment America, the news segment that asks viewers to vote for the stories they want to watch. Voting will take place online from 7 p.m. on Jan. 5 through 12 a.m. on Sunday, Jan. 7. Log on to www.cbsnews.com, and then click on the “Assignment America” tab to vote for Wellspring House. Just one vote per computer will register. If Wellspring House wins, the CBS News crew with Steve Hartman will come to Gloucester on Monday, Jan. 8 and film a full feature segment about Wellspring House that will air on the national news later that week. Let’s show the nation that Gloucester supports its own!
Wellspring profile in People Magazine (12-18-06) "Their family shelter feels more like a home..." (click here to read the People Magazine profile in Adobe PDF)
Profile of Nany Schwoyer and Wellspring House in Yankee Magazine (December 2006) "We created something that works." (click here to read the Yankee Magazine profile in Adobe PDF)
Profile of Patti Philbrick and Wellspring House in the Boston Globe (12-03-06) "Community Celebrates Wellspring" (click here to read the Boston Globe profile in Adobe PDF)
Release: July 26, 2006 GLOUCESTER, Mass. (July 26, 2006) — After more than three years of working to develop the property of Rockport Lodge into housing, Wellspring House today withdraws its application to the Zoning Board of Appeals for the zoning relief necessary to do so. On July 18, the Rockport Zoning Board filed its decision to approve the development of 11 of the 15 proposed units, nine one-bedroom units and two three-bedroom units on the north parcel. The decision also denied development of the southern parcel, more commonly known as the barn side, thus eliminating the four two-bedroom units. The ZBA decision made it economically infeasible for Wellspring House to develop the property for affordable housing, according to Lynn Peterson, the development consultant from the Women’s Institute for Housing and Economic Development, hired by Wellspring House for the Rockport Lodge project. “The cost to build the one-bedroom units now exceeds the price for which they would sell,” Peterson says. “Developing fewer units means the per unit costs are higher, the zoning process added significant costs, and the one-bedroom condo market has fallen, while the two- and three-bedroom market has remained stable.” From the very start of this project, Wellspring House publicly maintained that it would not appeal any decision made by the Zoning Board of Appeals. “We believe the ZBA is charged with voicing the opinion of the residents,” says Wellspring House Co-founder and Executive Director Nancy Schwoyer. “We are aware from studies of Rockport’s housing situation that there is a great need for Rockport to find ways to develop affordable housing and also that the Rockport Lodge property was noted in these studies as appropriate for affordable housing. However, the mission of Wellspring House is not to impose itself or its values, but to offer support and assistance to those who seek and welcome our partnership.” Years ago, when the former trustees of the Rockport Lodge determined they could not continue to operate the Lodge and the buildings and property were in need of significant repair, they put out a request for proposals, seeking plans from other nonprofit organizations for how they would use the property for housing. Based on the proposal Wellspring House submitted, which outlined a plan that was aligned with the trustees’ original desires for affordable housing, Wellspring House was awarded the assets of the Rockport Lodge building and property, and a great opportunity was presented to the town of Rockport, according to Leslee Shlopak, chair of the Wellspring House board of directors. “Through the shared Rockport Lodge and Wellspring House vision, the mission to develop affordable housing units on the site for those who work in and or live in Rockport was set into action,” Shlopak says. Rockport residents favored Wellspring’s plan for 10 affordable and five market rate housing units proposed for the Rockport Lodge site; in April 2005, Town Meeting voted to allocate $500,000 of community preservation money toward the project, targeted to the affordable units ($50,000 into each affordable unit). “And rightfully so,” Peterson says. “Rockport residents and taxpayers should be in favor of creating more affordable housing in Rockport, because by not doing so, by not progressing toward the state’s recommendation that each town provide at least 10 percent affordable housing, Rockport deems itself ineligible for more than $1 million in state funding that could go toward other community development projects.” This sum includes $800,000 in Community Development Funds plus other grants that the town has not accessed, including $400,000 in state housing development support programs. The Rockport Lodge site was considered ideal for the development of affordable housing, as it is accessible to public transportation, it is within walking distance to the schools and town center, and the town sewer and water system services the property. In addition, the recommendation for local preference deeming seven of the 10 units to those already working or residing in Rockport made it an admirable project. “For the 100 years that the property was Rockport Lodge, it has paid no taxes; Wellspring House would have put Rockport Lodge on the tax rolls,” Schwoyer says. “Considering that Wellspring’s proposal received great encouragement and backing from residents of the town, support of various town boards and elected officials, and many state organizations and could still not overcome the obstacles necessary to get this project accomplished, we now once again are made aware how difficult it is for organizations to develop much needed affordable housing, and how difficult it is for families without financial means and without the benefit of advocacy to obtain affordable housing.” Still, Shlopak says it is difficult for Wellspring House to relinquish the dream of fulfilling the Rockport Lodge mission. “It is greatly disappointing to all of us at Wellspring House, and to advocates for affordable housing across the Commonwealth, yet to continue spending funds while reducing the affordable potential of the property does not make any sense. Wellspring House is grateful for all of the community support received throughout this process from town boards and individuals who shared our vision,” Shlopak says. “Wellspring House looks forward to continuing its mission of helping the families of Cape Ann to obtain financial security, through housing, education and well paying jobs. Every family needs supportive communities and neighbors.” MEDIA CONTACT: Jackie Herskovitz (617) 269-7171 |
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