If you don't have adequate housing for yourself and your family, perhaps that depends on you,
you're spending every waking hour trying to make sure you simply have a roof over your head.
This takes all of that away, provides that support and stability, and that in turn helps
them be more successfully permanently housed if their health conditions are more stable.
Hi, my name is Chantelle Perry. I’m a resident here at 101 Woodstock Avenue.
I absolutely love it here though. Before that, I was homeless on and off for quite a while. I
have a daughter, Brianna, who's nine years old. She's allowed to come and visit with me a lot more
because of the stability. This unit has given me that stability. To be able to want to even
find a job because it's hard to find a job if you don't have stability. It's hard to
want to go back to school if you don't have stability. I mean bouncing from place to place
you can't really follow through with anything. So, it's definitely helped me with that. I would say
my background is in homelessness working for homeless prevention, and I feel like this was
probably one of the biggest things the community needed – where families aren't getting torn away.
One person's in the one hotel. The other person's in the other hotel. We're in families again here,
and I feel like this is probably the best thing that we ever, ever created in Rutland County
for families. It has been a great experience. This has really helped me out a lot. It's opened a lot
of doors for me that wouldn't have been opened if I hadn't had this opportunity. It's amazing
the work that was done here. I was here before construction started; and three months later, we
have this wonderful facility – comfortable, safe and a dignified place for people to transition.
And I think Chantelle's story bears that out in full relief. In Rutland, we have,
you know, we're very fortunate that it's a big enough community to have a lot of resources but
a small enough community to have a tight-knit network of supports. And I think this project
really has helped demonstrate that to the fullest potential. I've been so amazed with all the
different ways that people have worked to collaborate and really find ways to say
yes to the different aspects that this project has created. You build a model and then hope
that you're going to be able to have the impact that you're looking for.
For me, the proof in the pudding, so to speak,
was to be here at bridge housing on move-in day and to witness the families and their response
to finally having secure, safe, adequate housing. People were in tears and that
was the moment in time when it became no longer theoretical for me. It became the reality; and
frankly, it was it was very moving and a little overwhelming because you got to see, or I got
to see, the difference that we were making. These apartments are a blessing. So, I want to
thank those – the donors that helped make this possible. I can't show my appreciation enough.
Like there's nothing like thank you’s, not enough. For the donors that made this project
a reality, we are tremendously appreciative of your generosity; and I think you can see
the tangible result of your gift every day impacting the lives of the people here at this new
important asset to our community. Thank you all. You've made an extraordinary difference
in the lives of not just the eight families who are original residents but the many,
many families in the future that will call bridge housing home and then move on. Thank you all.