Bread & Roses Blog

June 2011 

Anne L., the Volunteer Coordinator from Christ Church in Andover, created a brochure to share with her fellow parishioners, as well as with the staff of B&R.  For this blog entry, we included a section of Anne's brochure.  

A  Volunteer’s 1st Experience…

I drive into Lawrence looking for 58 Newbury Street, expecting a facility that can house 150 people for dinner.  

It’s 4:15 as I turn the corner and see a row house with a short line of people in front of it.  “Can this be it?” I knock on a locked door and everything changes quickly.

 A quiet, humble man sits at a table; he stands, smiles  and introduces himself, Bob Lanzoni,  Bread & Roses Director.  His only advice, “don’t worry, you can’t get fired from this job.”

In less than 5 minutes, I feel welcomed and part of the Bread & Roses family.  Kathy, our coordinator, gently guides us through what needs to be done for our first seating - the doors open at 5:00PM. 

The evening brings so much:

-   Love & gratitude, for the ability to know and serve this community

-   Comradery, with volunteers from Christ Church and many other new  friends

~Anne L. 

May 2011

During the last entry, we mentioned that the fully functional medical examination room was complete!  We are pleased to report that in the past 5 months, the room has been utilized on a weekly basis by our guests and community partners from the Greater Lawrence Family Health Center.  

Between February and April, the Prevention and Education Department from the GLFHC, conducted 10 outreach sessions at Bread and Roses.  Their primary goal is to provide services to "individuals at high-risk for contracting HIV and other communicable diseases." 

So far, the program has reached many of our community members, including 175 high-risk individuals !  Here are some of the other program statistics: 

• 35 of the 175 high risk clients were referred to individual sessions for risk reduction counseling and STI screening services
• 250 educational pamphlets distributed
• 200 sharps containers distributed
• 1200 male condoms and 75 female condoms distributed

We are so pleased that the program has been successful and beneficial to our community members.  Thank you GLFHC!

 Visit their website!