CAMBRIDGE A PROJECT OF HANDS CARPENTERS, PLUMBERS REBUILD CHURCH SPACE AS TRANSITIONAL SHELTER FOR HOMELESS FAMILIES
Boston Globe

July 4, 1988

Author: David Arnold, Globe Staff

CAMBRIDGE

They said the silence was overpowering.For the last 10 days in June, about 30 volunteers had spent most of their waking hours amid the clamor of buzz saws, hammers and welding torches to convert a dilapidated dwelling at 41 Columbia St. into the city's newest transitional house for homeless families.

On Friday, July 1, some of the volunteers sat in a sun-flooded room that smelled of freshly cut flowers and drying plaster as they talked about a union between church and state that bordered, they mused, on miraculous. A job estimated at $25,000 and targeted for completion in 6 months had been finished for free in less than two weeks. Union and nonunion hands had worked side by side. At least two dozen local merchants had donated furnishings, architects had donated plans, engineers had donated calculations.

The shelter is a partnership between the city's Department of Human Services, which provided the planning and some guidance through municipal and state paperwork, and St. Paul AME Church, which provided the property and sense of mission."No budget, no money. We stepped way out on faith with this one," said Rev. Richard Richardson, who worked closely with Leroy Attles Sr., pastor of St. Paul.

The demand to work fast was unexpectedly tied to the countdown of fiscal year 1988, the last day of which was Thursday, June 30.

An average of 16 families are temporarily without shelter at any one time. St. Paul had already planned to convert another church-owned dwelling into housing for the homeless.

But the Department of Public Welfare, which was going to foot much of the bill for the church's $150,000 project, could not guarantee funding this year in light of the state's revenue shortfall.Two weeks ago, the state, St. Paul and the Cambridge Department of Human Services struck a deal: If the project could begin with two families living in a renovated, up-to-code facility by the close of fiscal year 1988, then funding for the project would be carried into the next year. 41 Columbia St. is a duplex that had served as an administrative office for St. Paul.

In this way, the state could guarantee funds for St. Paul's plan to renovate a larger building nearby into a six-family shelter."I'm not sure any of us really believed 12 days ago that we could pull it off," said Lindsay Lee, resources coordinator for the city's Department of Emergency Services, her hair still touched with blotches of white paint.

When he heard the deal, Philip Mangano, director of emergency services, thought: "My God, how are we going to get it all done?"

"Little did I know at the time that it was a prayer," he said.With the help of Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy 2d, the proponents found volunteer help from the Local 40 Carpenter's Union and Robert Pann Co., a Cambridge plumbing company."

Residents of this city have kept my dad in business and provided me a college education," said Michael Pann, a plumber on the job. "It was the least I could do in appreciation."

Sterritt Lumber Co. provided the wood, Ox-Line Paints dropped off the primer, Pill Inc. -- a hardware store -- came up with the smoke detectors, Christ Church offered manpower, the S & S Deli brought lunches, Kennedy Studios donated framed artwork for the walls, and, prior to two families taking up residence Thursday night, Le Jardin even supplied cut flowers -- just to name a few of the participating local merchants and churches.

"I was astonished how people respond when you actually reach out," Lee said. "They're all out there. They're just waiting to be asked.