Photo: Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff.
Resident service coordinator Judith Lucien and senior property manager Ron Quimby stocked the shelves in the makeshift pantry at Mainstay Supportive Housing and Home Care in Chelsea on Dec. 11.
This is the story of generosity between a well-off group of retirees and one threatened with food insecurity. It’s also the story of how great both the giver and the receiver can feel.
Claire Thornton writes at the Boston Globe, “Husband and wife Ron Quimby and Krissy Fleming tell each other everything. Each manages a senior living community near Boston. …
“North Hill Retirement Community in Needham, where Fleming works, sits on a 59-acre campus and advertises state-of-the-art amenities. Mainstay Supportive Housing and Home Care in Chelsea, Quimby’s employer, is a HUD Section 202 property that provides affordable housing for very low-income seniors who need supportive services.
“During the government shutdown in November, when Quimby was consumed with worry over the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program [food stamps] cuts his Chelsea residents faced, Fleming thought residents at North Hill would want to help. …
“For more than a month, Quimby brought weekly donations from North Hill’s 400 residents. … With SNAP payments stopped in November, the food was a lifeline for the low-income seniors with medical challenges and limited mobility who had no extra money to go shopping with, he said.
“Meanwhile, with a bit more income to spare, residents at North Hill embarked on grocery shopping missions for several weeks, pushing carts at Market Basket, Whole Foods, and Sudbury Farms in search of deals and specials they could send to Chelsea.
“Besides groceries, there was a tangible kindness linking the two groups of seniors, said Judy Lucien, a resident services coordinator, who has worked at the HUD-subsidized apartment complex in Chelsea for 17 years. …
“ ‘Krissy and her husband were really examples for those of us who had less information and were less aware of the need,’ said Geoff Pierson, 86, a retired school superintendent and North Hill resident. …
“About 20 miles away, Joe Downey, 69, has resided at Mainstay in Chelsea for the past two years after living unhoused for about three years in Brockton. After working in security for most of his career, Downey cared for his father, who suffered from a chronic disease, his blind aunt, and his mother, who died of a stroke. Later, Downey said he slept on someone’s couch for $1,000 a month and eventually ‘ran out of money.’ …
“Of Mainstay’s 66 residents, some have experienced homeless and as many as 80 percent receive SNAP benefits, said CEO Larry Oaks.
“And when suddenly that was in question, it was like, ‘Wow, these folks can’t live without that,’ said Oaks, who has worked at Mainstay for eight years.
“Mainstay resident Camilla Smith can’t cook without assistance, and relies on ready-to-eat items, Quimby said. Before coming to Mainstay 10 years ago, Smith said she bounced between halfway homes and worked jobs at Stop ‘N Shop and Friendly’s Ice Cream. …
“To meet the complex needs of Mainstay residents, North Hill residents filled a storage room ‘four times over, with donations, Fleming said. …
“Pierson, the former Lexington Public Schools superintendent, said he and his North Hill neighbors … had the financial resources to help the residents in Chelsea and wanted to support those affected by [the] cuts to safety net programs.
“ ‘I felt angry because of the behavior of the present administration to destroy things of value or of comfort,’ Pierson said. …
“Though the seniors at Mainstay have a roof over their heads, food insecurity has been and will continue to be a critical issue, Oaks said.
“ ‘If they don’t have their SNAP benefits, their incomes are not sufficient — they’re not going to feed themselves,’ Oaks, 57, said. While SNAP benefits were restored in mid-November, he said his residents continue to worry about benefit cuts going forward.”
More at the Globe, here.
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