Five Weekly Highlights- October 5, 2012

· “Marty” got an apartment after 5 years of waiting and working. He is so happy!!

· “Big Tim” got into a new place, too. 

· “Wendy” and “Steve” moved into a new place on the West Side.

·  Women from a local church donated hygiene products for our guests.

·  Today we said Thank you and Goodbye to Josh, aka Captain Uno, a wheelchair-bound

    volunteer who has been a source of great joy for the Center for several months.

Five Weekly Highlights - November 9, 2012

• "Gerry" got a new place after months of waiting. He got a Good Luck Box.
• "Mark" got a job, temporary, but he says, "I'm going to make this work.
• We remember Irene, a volunteer who helped in the kitchen since we opened.
• Immanual Lutheran Church has given us a new batch of backpacks. Thanks!
• "Phil" and "Frank" headed home to the Midwest, to beat the winter.

Fear or Rejection

“My greatest fear is asking for help and getting rejected.”

  I heard that comment from a homeless guest who has been aggressively pursuing some positive options in his life. In recent months I have been impressed by his dogged determination using the Center’s phones, computers, mail service and scanning capacity to cobble together a new life.Today he seems poised for success.

            This morning he reviewed his endeavor and said, “This Center has been the lifeline. Everything I needed to make it happen was here. What I realized though is that my greatest fear is asking for help.I am a proud person, and I had to figure out how, at 45 years of age, I could ask for help. Getting rejected just destroys me. Like many homeless here, we get rejected and denied over and over again, and we lose heart. But this time I’m gonna make it.”

            His story is dramatic, but it illustrates one of the fundamental features of the Center, giving the homeless the tools they need to access systems and pursue plans. We also try to provide a critical but intangible resource: encouragement. In the face of persistent fear and constant rejection, reality-based encouragement often makes the difference. We have to believe that. We have to.


Written By: Christopher Emerson, Director, Manchester Homeless Services Center

Weekly Highlights- July 23, 2012

• “Royal” is finding day labor, trying to rebuild his life after foreclosure.
• Volunteers from Journey Church came to serve lunch.
• Volunteers from Hampstead Village Preschool came to serve lunch, too!
• Larry is starting reading assessments with prospective students for
  “Reading to Win”.
• Gary from Comptech donated a computer for our federal reporting work.

Like A Beach

The Homeless Center is like a beach. Sometimes it’s like the tide coming in, and people are everywhere, swirling, bumping into each other, bringing up the stuff of life, often other people’s leftovers. Sometimes its low tide, as the people drain away onto the streets, leaving a quieter place. Also, like the beach we can often predict the tides around here. There’s a high tide at 8 AM, when people are eager to come in out of the cold, grab a coffee, take a shower or look for one of the providers who work here. The tide recedes an hour later, but we get another high water mark just before lunch. Around 1 PM the tide slowly recedes, until the end of the day, 4 PM, we see our lowest tide.

There is a rhythm here, (when the moon is full??), we get surprised by a large number of people with problems, difficulties, questions and concerns. On such days I can be approached or interrupted 15-20 times an hour. But of course that’s why I’m here, to be accessible and approachable by the homeless and nearly homeless who have questions and requests. 

As I write more of these blogs, I’ll give you a casual look inside life at the Center, what we do, what we face, our challenges and successes. It’s a great place to be, and I’d like you to know why.



Written By: Christopher Emerson, Director, Manchester Homeless Services Center

Grand Central Station

Most of the time, it’s constant. Homeless guests knock on the office door, wave, call out my name or sidle up for a whispered word. It is not uncommon to field fifteen requests an hour.

What do they ask?

“These sneakers are shot.  Where can I get some boots for the snow?”

“When’s Dave coming in?  I need to talk to him.” (Substitute Jacob, Izet, Lisa, Mary, 

 Linda or Peter – our regular team of excellent providers)

“Can I get my laundry done today? I’m in a bind.”

“I have a restraining order against that guy. Can I talk to you about it?”

“Where can I get a bus pass?”

"Some guy is on the phone, wanting to talk about what this place is all about.”

“We need more paper towels in the men’s room.”

“Do you need some help around here today?” 

“Joe is outside drinking from a can he keeps hidden in his jacket.”

“Shall we put out an extra pot of coffee?”

“I need to get out of this town. I got a friend in Nashua. Can I call him to tell him to Come

 get me?"

“Can you print out this resume for me?”

”New Horizons is on the phone. They’re sending someone down to us.They need to talk

 about her.”

“There’s a parole officer here, wants to talk to you.”

“There’s a leak in the kitchen.”

“Can I get my mail here?  They say you do a letter about that.”

  From tiny details to life crises, life at the Center is a constant stream of requests. But 

  that’s the whole point. This place is a referral center, a kind of Grand Central Station

  where people make connections on their way some place else.

  Written By: Christopher Emerson, Director, Manchester Homeless Services Center

The Spirit of Thanksgiving

 The Spirit of Thanksgiving

A  note from one of our guests and her daughter:

“I cannot thank you all enough for the kindness you’ve shown to my daughter and me.  When we became homeless back in September, my life at that moment was NOT the one I wanted to live, nor did I want her being homeless, too.  I still don’t.  I beat myself up emotionally at times for us being in this situation. Anyway, we’re both grateful for having a place to “hang out” as I don’t know how we would’ve managed life daily without your help.  The services you offer to those who need it I never would have known about if it wasn’t for you folks.  So, whenever my daughter and I are no longer homeless, I’m hoping this place will continue to help those that need it like we have. Thank you very much.”

Written By: Christopher Emerson