During this critical time for our communities, CHNA 20 has stayed in touch with our many partner agencies to provide support, guidance and a listening ear. We are inspired by the incredible work that has been done in our region to shift traditional models and provide needed services to residents despite the challenges of the pandemic. We’re pleased to highlight some of the efforts of our partners and friends, and to share their stories of success, hope and inspiration.
“Our model has completely changed,” says Vinny Harte, President and CEO of the Wellspring Multi-Service Center, a Hull organization providing wraparound services designed to address all of the factors contributing to and/or hindering individuals’ paths to independence. In the face of COVID-19 restrictions, the center has had to totally redesign its service delivery models. In-person activities such as counseling and adult education have been re-imagined as online events; the food pantry has become a food delivery service to minimize the need for clients to leave their homes.
Despite the fact that Wellspring offers a comprehensive series of programs and supports for its clients, during the past few months Harte says that the focus has shifted to prioritizing immediate needs. “We have really moved into addressing the crisis and emergency services, pivoting to make sure people are fed.” This change came partly as the center, working hard to keep in touch with clients and adult education students, found that people were less able to engage in classes than they had been before the pandemic. So Wellspring started to work more deeply on ways to meet the community’s basic needs.
Feeding Hull’s Families
Through the organization’s ingenuity, new successful programs have arisen that could continue to be useful post-COVID. For example, Wellspring is running a school lunch program that has been a major support to families in Hull. “We have a good relationship with the schools, so we called them right away,” Harte says, noting that the school district’s data shows that 40% of kids in Hull are eligible for free or reduced lunches. The schools asked if Wellspring’s transportation services and support staff could be repurposed during the pandemic to help distribute meals to families in need. Wellspring got to work, using both the school food that was already available for lunches and supplemental items from the Wellspring pantry -- food that has been largely donated by community members or through the Boston Food Bank.
“During the first week (of meal service), we were serving 48 students, providing a minimum of 5 breakfasts and 5 lunches per student,” Harte reports. “By week three we served 211 students, so the total number of meals went from 480 to over 2,000...we moved operations from Wellspring to the school cafeteria. We have a fleet to make it as efficient as possible.” Due to the success of the current program and the uncertainty of summer planning due to the ongoing pandemic, Wellspring has decided to replace their usual summer lunch program with the new meal delivery model. They’ve committed to providing meals through August, regardless of new developments to the stay-at-home orders. Harte says that being flexible has allowed the meal program to expand swiftly while also keeping Wellspring’s staff employed. In fact, Wellspring’s main driver has increased his hours since the beginning of the pandemic so that he can support the new demand for service, while other staff members -- like the Director of Education -- have taken on new roles in the meal program to compensate for decreased participation in their own programs during the shutdown.
Supporting Local Businesses Through Partnership
Another novel idea to come out of Wellspring during the COVID-19 crisis is their “Better Together” program, which Harte says was devised as a way to give something back to the local restaurants that support Wellspring’s programs. “We thought that since restaurants always support us, what if we create a program that supports them, while providing hot meals for our clients?” The organization is reaching out to local residents and asking them to make donations to the restaurant partnership program, supporting the purchase of anywhere from a single meal to a week’s worth of meals. Those meals are then prepared by the restaurants, picked up by Wellspring, and delivered to people in need.
“There’s something to be said about being served a hot meal,” Harte notes, adding that meal recipients complete an application process through Wellspring ahead of time to be selected for the program. He says the deliveries have been very well-received, and have an additional benefit besides offering the rare treat of a hot restaurant meal to those who wouldn’t be able to afford to eat out. “The program also allows us to put some eyes on people to make sure they’re not isolated. We’ve been partnering with the Council on Aging on this...by delivering food to their most vulnerable clients, we’re able to keep a watchful eye on them.” He adds, “We know how important human contact is, particularly for our most vulnerable clients. (The current situation) is not ideal, but we’re doing our best.”
Despite jumping in to fully embrace new models of serving the community’s needs, Wellspring hasn’t stopped planning for the future. With the opening of a new location in South Weymouth on the horizon, “we are still preparing for the first day post-crisis.” Harte hopes to see all the normal Wellspring programs resume, with new innovations and expanded offerings to come. He also sees room for some of the COVID response models to become part of Wellspring’s programming going forward. “I could definitely see (Better Together) continuing; for example, we could do it on a less busy day, like a Wednesday.” With a combination of ingenuity, willingness to quickly pivot and thoughtfulness about the future, we’re excited to see what Wellspring will be able to do.
Do you have a success story to share about how your organization has risen to meet the challenges of COVID-19 in the Blue Hills region? Contact us!