Fast to Aid Programs for the Homeless

The food service subcommittee of the Committee on Housing and Undergraduate Life (CHUL) Monday approved a fast that the Hunger Action Committee will sponsor on April 26 to raise funds for three shelter programs aiding the homeless in Cambridge and Boston.

Shelter, Inc., Pine Street Inn, and Rosie's Place each serve a different segment of the homeless population in the Boston metropolitan area. All are supported by contributions. Shelter and Pine Street also receive money from the State Department of Welfare.

Accepts Referrals

Shelter accepts referrals from the YMCA, Salvation Army, local churches, the welfare department, and other agencies. Pine Street accepts 300 men on a non-referral basis, and Rosie's accommodates ten women with restrictions to insure the beds rotate among different guests.

David F. Whitty, director of Shelter Inc., said yesterday Shelter provides a place to sleep, dinner, breakfast, showers and clothing for 15 "street people" each night.

"There's a need for more of these programs. We're always being asked to take more people than we can accomodate," he said.

Colman H. Terrell '80, who has volunteered at Shelter for more than a year, said yesterday. "It seems like these people are rushed from one place to another and Shelter gives them people to listen to them. It was really hard at first when I realized how insulated I'd been from the homeless in cities," he added.

Pine Street Inn offers similar services to homeless men in Boston. Their program also includes counseling and health care. Paul D. Sullivan, executive director of Pine Street, said yesterday, "Folks fall through the cracks in a system which deals with so many people, and we help them out. The only thing they have in common is that they're homeless."

The three programs act only as way-stations for the homeless, and do not claim to be the solution in themselves.

"We don't know where they belong or if they belong anywhere, but at least we know they'll be alive the next day to find out," Sullivan said.