Coming Up
RevivalMarch 28-29 (Save the dates!)
Revival will be an annual event to benefit Circle of Hope. This unprecedented event will feature "vignettes" of beautiful spaces around the home, all created from previously-used furniture and accessories by area decorators, designers, and creative visionaries. This beautiful event made up of "recycled" pieces will create spaces that can be viewed and then purchased by silent auction, to help Boston's neediest people. Interested in joining the planning committee?
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Special Requests  - Sweaters & pants for adults
- Durable winter coats - water resistant & thermal boots for men and women
- Adult hats (with head and ear coverage)
- Lined gloves for adults
- Thermal undergarments for adults
If you have any of the above, please drop them off at 65 Rosemary Street during any of our...
DROP-OFF TIMES:
Monday, 9-10 AM
Tuesday, 4-5:00 PM
Wednesday, 9-10:00 AM
Wednesday, 3-4:00 PM
Thursday, 10-11:30 AM
Saturday, 9-11 AM
If you would like to make a financial donation to Circle of Hope, click here.
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You Must Hear This...
It's notes like this that motivate us to work harder. You, our supporters, will especially be moved by these words...
"As a nurse on the family team I see the direct impact that Circle of Hope has on our homeless families. Countless numbers of families have benefited directly from the generosity of your donors. Every day I see children receive appropriate clothing for school, and New England weather conditions. Women who are pregnant and need larger sizes are delighted when they open a bag of clean, stylish tops. New baby donations make everyone smile! We all gather round to watch an expectant mom open, admire and refold beautiful clothes that her infant will soon wear. Please extend our heartfelt appreciation to your staff and generous donors! Wishing you all blessings in the New Year."
Peggy Andreas RNC, BSN Family Team Nurse
Boston Health Care for the Homeless
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Go To Crew Update
Our most recent Go To Crew request for warm hats and gloves for men and women, as well as boots for women, opened floodgates of support. One outpouring of love came from Judy Chudnofsky who dropped off six brimming bags of new men's underwear and thick, wool men's socks. We love you Judy!
The Go To Crew is a small group of supporters who receive an e-mail if a special need arises. Being a member of the Go To Crew does not obligate its members to donate every time there is a need. If you would like to be a member of the Go To Crew, or know someone who would like to be on this e-mail list, just respond to this e-mail, or click here.
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Dear Friends of Circle of Hope,
I welcome 2015 with a sense of wonder and gratitude. How could it be that Circle of Hope experienced such stunning growth in 2014? I need to thank so many people for this amazing year. Let me start with hugs and thanks to our extraordinary volunteers whose teams have crowded together cheerfully in the sorting room, the busy order pullers gathering from our shelves to fill much needed requests for clothing, bedding, shoes, and coats, and our intrepid drivers who fill their vehicles to the brim and deliver without fail to those in need. Thank you to our business partners who have created new and lasting ways of expanding our capacity to reach the neediest of our neighbors. And my deepest thanks to our generous donors who give from their own homes and personal finances to ensure that COH is always there to reach out and lift up fragile people. I also want to thank our COH Board of Directors for a year of unprecedented leadership. Every member of our board gave generously to our Annual Appeal and all have engaged enthusiastically in new subcommittee tasks to bring our strategic plan to life. These dedicated leaders have created new initiatives with new business partners and fundraising opportunities to ensure the sustainability of our vital organization. Thank you to all who contributed to the growth of Circle of Hope in 2014. We've experienced an abundance of generosity at the very moment of record breaking need in our neighborhoods. I echo the grateful sentiments of Peggy Andreas, Family Team Nurse at Boston Healthcare for the Homeless, whose thank you note you'll read in this issue. Peggy witnesses the "direct impact of Circle of Hope... on the countless numbers of families who benefit directly from the generosity of your donors." On behalf of those families and the thousands of individuals we served this year I extend our most heartfelt appreciation and wishes for a healthy and happy New Year!
With deepest thanks,
Barbara Waterhouse
Executive Director
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2015 Means Expansion for Circle of Hope
We are so very proud of what we accomplished in 2014 and want to share with you where we are going in 2015. Our incredibly dedicated volunteers and generous donors make this all possible.
One of the greatest impacts on Boston's adult homeless population came in October, 2014 with the emergency closure of Long Island Shelter. It's been 10 weeks since this Boston shelter closed, displacing more than 700 homeless men and women who seek refuge and treatment each night. Circle of Hope's response to this humanitarian crisis, our Long Island Shelter Post-closure Action Plan, has been in effect for the past 7 weeks. We've been laser focused and highly successful in reaching out to those homeless men and women where they're able to seek services. COH has been giving them warm clothing, winter coats, hats, gloves, and shoes thanks to you.
South End Fitness Center. Over the past 5 years Circle of Hope provided more than $150,000 worth of gently used and new clothing, shoes/boots and coats for men at Long Island Shelter with our monthly deliveries. Since the shelter closed we've been making deliveries of men's clothing, shoes, and coats every other week to the 250 men at the South End Fitness Center make-shift emergency shelter. Just before Christmas we made a huge delivery for the men and found out that they had only 2 pairs of pants left before we arrived.
Episcopal Lunch Program Clothing Deliveries.
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Clothing ready to be offered to lunch guests
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We created a Circle of Hope Clothing Program for the more than 150 guests of the MANNA/Episcopal Lunch Program that takes place on Mondays at the Cathedral Church of St. Paul (St. John the Evangelist Episcopal Church while the Cathedral is under renovation) in downtown Boston. So now, every other week, we load up our volunteers' SUVs with warm clothing and, one-by-one, fill the clothing needs of the guests - a coat, new underwear, new socks, shirts, pants, sweaters, coats, hats, and gloves.
St. Francis House Shelter. We added deliveries to St. Francis House Shelter, the largest day shelter in New England, to help provide clothing to the women and men who are seeking services there. Since Long Island Shelter closed they have experienced a 36% increase in the number of people seeking showers and clothing. According to Karen La Frazia, Executive Director of St. Francis House, "There's just overwhelming need," she said. "The winter months are always harder, and this year people are looking for an anchor."
Circle of Hope Satellite. We can do more for families and individuals if we can increase clothing donations and the number of deliveries. The idea of having Circle of Hope "satellites" has long been in our plans for the futu  | |
L to R, Tara/Solutions at Work, Rev. Karen Coleman/COH-Somerville
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re, and now, The Reverend Karen Coleman and some devoted parishioners at St. James Episcopal Church in Somerville have joined our vision. The clothing collected at this location will all be delivered to Solutions at Work, an organization that helps thousands of homeless and low-income people achieve self-sufficiency by providing them with professional clothing and other items. We are proud of their first delivery on December 5. COH Favorite Spaces. COH has expanded into several of our board member's garages/storage spaces this winter to increase our donation space. A special COH thanks goes to these folks and their families for helping us grow! W
 | | Donations awaiting delivery safely being stored in the garage of board member, Myra Anderson. |
e need all these clothing donations and warm coats to respond to the growing needs of the homeless people in Boston. Our turnaround time is quick - as soon as our sorters get everything packaged up for delivery we have our volunteer drivers ready to load up their cars for our shelter deliveries. We thank you, all of our generous donors and business partners, for making it possible for us to provide clothing to many hundreds ofhomeless adults, children, and babies throughout this winter. Thank you for expanding your giving so that we can provide much needed winter clothing and coats to the homeless people we serve. Our help is more important now than ever before. We cannot do any of this without the support of you. The individuals, organizations and businesses who collect and bring us clothing so that we can deliver them to those who need them most, are invaluable. Thank you for being a part of Circle of Hope and the work we do for Boston's homeless and at risk citizens. _______________________________________________ How To Donate Clothing to Circle of Hope: Please bring your clean, gently-worn clothing (ideally in-season so we can deliver it immediately) during our Drop-Off Times noted in the left sidebar. How To Make a Monetary Gift to Circle of Hope: You can mail a check to P.O. Box 920724, Needham, MA 02492 or click here to donate online. Currently we are at 82% of our Annual Appeal goal of $45,000.
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Because of YOU...
Because of people like YOU, Circle of Hope is able to help hundreds of people in Boston area homeless shelters and programs serving refugees and disadvantaged youth. Here are some of our stories from this month...Charles River Apparel Instagram Challenge
It wasn't long after we created an official Circle of Hope Instagram account, that our friends at Charles River Apparel made a wonderful offer: for every new Instagram follower, CRA would donate one garment to Circle of Hope! We gained more than 250 Instagram followers and now 250 people who are homeless will receive a new piece of clothing.
We are so grateful to our friends at Charles River Apparel!
P.S. If you are on Instagram, follow us! We are
#circleofhopeneedham.
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That's a Wrap
We are forever grateful to Ty Patton, Store Manager of Orvis at Legacy Place, for inviting us once again to staff the complimentary gift wrap this Christmas season. We enjoyed spreading the holiday spirit and introducing new people to what Circle of Hope does for Boston's poor and homeless. We also want to thank all our volunteer wrappers: Myra Anderson, John Anderson, Kate Maguire, Kelley Maguire, Paula Andrews, Laura Dowd, Peggy Lowenstein, Trish Lincoln, Betsy Husted, Ronnie Schauer, Christy Curran, Paula Beckerle, Mary Jo Hollender, Marliese Baltimore, Dani Sammut, Emilie Hitron, Stan Hitron, and Margaret Pantridge.
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Shout Outs
Thank you to the employees of Ameresco who have been running a coat drive on our behalf for nearly a month. We have already picked up one carload of coats and they are generously bringing the remaining donations to us once the drive ends this coming Thursday. Thanks to Deb, Trevor, Justin and Jessica at Needham's Get In Shape For Women, for holding a clothing drive in their exercise studio. Members were encouraged to bring in the clothes that no longer fit. Judging from the number of bags we received so far, Get In Shape members are on the road to su  | |
CrossFit One Nation article in Needham's Hometown Weekly
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ccess, and a generous bunch! Second Time Around in Wellesley once again donated dozens of beautiful shirts and slacks to be delivered to the women who need them. We are so grateful to the staff and partners of Cape Ann Fresh Catch who conducted a coat drive to support Circle of Hope. The coats were delivered to our door! Our friends at Lisa's Boutique in Needham offered anincentive in December to their customers - those who brought in a coat to be donated to COH received 20% off their purchase. After the huge event in November at CrossFit One Nation when workout warriors were challenged to come in wearing clothes they would like to donate to COH and as the activity increased, the apparel was removed and placed in a donation bag. A donation box has remained at the location and magically continues to fill. Thank you for all of these wonderful clothes and coats and for our new partnership! We just loved being one of the two recipients of the Mitten Tree created by the staff at Coldwell Banker in Needham. All mittens and gloves were donated to our friends at Needham Community Council and Circle  | |
The Mitten Tree at Coldwell Banker
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of Hope! Thank you to the folks at Discover Music And Art, and all who supported their coat drive held during the Dedham Holiday Stroll. We're so grateful to Shelia Donovan Pilates in Canton for hosting a winter clothing drive to support Circle of Hope. They also collected new socks and underwear for the children, women, and men we serve. Thank you to Susan Donahue who dropped off no less than 60 coats to us. She held her own coat drive on our behalf on her Facebook page! This makes us smile in so many ways. The kindergarteners in Mrs. Staley's and Mrs. Prout's classes at Broadmeadow School in Needham were challenged to work at home to "earn" hats, mittens, and gloves to give to those who might not have them. We thank you for all you do to make the world better!
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