By Joyce Marcel | Wednesday, July 19, 2023
Photo by Randolph T. Holhut/THE COMMONS— Issue 723
BRATTLEBORO — Brooks Memorial Library is on the front line of the town’s and region’s homelessness conundrum.
With the exception of Groundworks Collaborative, the library is the one place in town where people who are unhoused can find shelter from the weather, have access to the internet, write a letter to a family member, get help finding the services they need, get a few books to take out, use a clean bathroom, drink some cool, clean water, and find a kind word when they really need one.
“We try to know everybody by name,” said Library Director Starr LaTronica. “There’s some people that don’t want to tell us their name, and that’s fine. But we try and sort of keep an eye on people.”
The library prides itself on offering homeless people a human connection.