 NOAH staff who attended the final gathering at the shelter on October 31 included Darrell Thomas (rear, from left), Lucy Collins, Marvin Domino, Jan Rogers, shelter director Greg Bar, Carolann Gillard (front, from left), Lucy Sears and Julie Munson. |
With a small gathering that included live music, speeches and some tears, HAC said farewell to its NOAH Shelter on the final day of October. On November 1, management of the shelter shifted to Catholic Social Services, ending HAC’s 32-year operation of NOAH.
The shelter first opened in the winter of 1984 in the old Hyannis Armory before moving to its current location on Winter Street the next year. Since that time, the shelter provided homeless men and women with a warm meal, shower and bed for 365 days a year.
In the beginning of October, HAC’s board voted to hand over the operations of NOAH to Catholic Social Services which runs three other shelters in Southeastern Massachusetts.
HAC will continue to operate its three family shelters – Angel House in Hyannis; Carriage House in North Falmouth; and The Village at Cataumet in Bourne – as well as its scattered site units, all of which assist homeless families in the region. HAC also will continue its homeless outreach program which works with men and women living in the streets and in the woods of Cape Cod, connecting them to the services they need in order to transition to permanent housing.
 Lucy Collins was one of a handful of NOAH staff recognized for their longtime service to the shelter. Collins had worked at the shelter since July 1989. She will continue to work at the shelter, renamed St. Joseph’s House, for Catholic Social Services. “I get to continue to do work that I love,” she said. |
Four days prior to the transfer of operations, HAC CEO Rick Presbrey met with Catholic Social Services CEO Arlene McNamee to sign the lease of the NOAH Shelter building. During the meeting, Presbrey said that McNamee repeatedly told him that NOAH staff, “are the most committed people. They really care about their clients.”
Presbrey said NOAH has always been a place where those in need felt welcomed. “You work with them from the point of view about caring about them and realizing that they are in a tough spot,” he said. “That’s real important… You can’t really like this work unless you care about the outcomes and the people we’re helping.”
