Morningside House has been sitting vacant since the tragic loss of our friend and colleague, Shelter Coordinator Leah Rosin-Pritchard on April 3, 2023. In a move to bring these vital shelter beds and services back to our community, Groundworks is planning to replace this old and fraught 30-bed farmhouse with a new 40-bed shelter designed for an enhanced, refined, and safer shelter program.
Groundworks’ Outreach Team launched in February and is engaging with unsheltered people in the community; facilitating service connections related to housing, and specialized health care needs, obtaining identification, and providing support with basic needs such as critical camping gear, food, and clothing, etc.
The Board of Directors of Groundworks Collaborative has announced that Libby Bennett, formerly the agency’s Director of Development & Communications, has accepted the offer to lead the organization as its new Executive Director.
Josh Davis, Executive Director of Groundworks Collaborative for the past 11+ years, has announced that he will be leaving the organization in the coming weeks to become the Executive Director of SEVCA—Southeastern Vermont Community Action—at the start of the new year.
The ArtLords, known for painting their war-torn capital of Kabul with Taliban-censored messages of human rights and social justice, have created their first permanent mural in the Green Mountain State on Groundworks Collaborative’s Foodworks building.
By Kevin O’Connor | VTDigger | August 16, 2023
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.
Reporting by Chris Mays, Brattleboro Reformer | June 28, 2023
Photos by Kristopher Radder
BRATTLEBORO — Lately, on a day before receiving an order from the Vermont Foodbank, Foodworks on Canal Street can look pretty bare.
“There is a natural ebb and flow to our inventory,” said Andrew Courtney, director of Foodworks.
However, the Brattleboro-based Groundworks Collaborative’s food shelf program and other partners in the Vermont Foodbank network are getting less food.
Groundworks Collaborative lost a beloved staff member—the Coordinator of Morningside House—in the tragic events of April 3rd at that shelter.
Leah Rosin-Pritchard is irreplaceable. She was a wonderfully strong, positive, beautiful and compassionate person who gave generously of her spirit and skills in support of all Morningside House residents and her professional colleagues. There are no words to express the depth of loss felt by her Groundworks teammates and our hearts go out to her family and friends.
We can unequivocally say that Groundworks will not be the same without Leah. Our staff and our program participants are grieving. We are, at the same time, personally and organizationally impacted, and we are focused on supporting each other while continuing to provide food, shelter, and supportive services to people who need us.
A number of significant transitions have taken place over the past few months at Groundworks.
2023 is about strengthening the web of services and ensuring the health of the organization for sustainability; as the road toward achieving our mission to end homelessness and hunger has been made more challenging since the start of the pandemic.
Set up a monthly, quarterly, or even weekly donation to Groundworks by January 31, 2023 and your gift will be matched!
A generous donor has offered to match all new recurring donations as well as all increases in existing monthly donations up to $5,000!
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