Tweet
GROUP THAT FEEDS NEEDY AT ODDS WITH FIRE CHIEF
By Shawn Regan; [email protected]
The Eagle Tribune
February 02, 2010 12:13 am
HAVERHILL - The director of a group that feeds and helps the city's
needy says fire Chief Richard Borden is blocking her plans for
expansion. But the chief said he is merely following the building
code and has no discretion over the matter.
Marlene Yeo, director and founder of Somebody Cares New England,
operates a food pantry, cafeteria and Community Christian Fellowship
church at the edge of the Acre neighborhood, just north of downtown.
Since opening in 2008 in the Pentucket Building at the corner of
Winter and White streets, police said they are seeing fewer crimes
in the neighborhood.
With the economy in the tank and joblessness on the rise, Yeo's
organization, which caters to the homeless and unemployed and their
children, is bursting at the seams.
The cafeteria at 125 Winter St. is small and city rules don't allow
more than 50 people inside at once. The church, which has the same
occupancy limit, is packed for two Saturday services.
"The space is extra tight," Yeo said of the church at 129 Winter St.
"We call it the squishy church. People feel claustrophobic. And we
have the same problem in the cafe. It's so small it's hard for people
in wheelchairs and parents with children in strollers to get around.
We set up a TV in the cafe during church services so people can watch
there. And we can feed 20 to 30 people in the church when the cafe
is filled, but it's not ideal."
Yeo is looking to move to a larger space, but the organization has
limited finances and she doesn't want to stray too far from the Acre.
Those served by the organization don't have transportation, she said.
Yeo thought she found a place, another empty, but larger, storefront
in the Pentucket Building at 8 White St. But the fire chief is standing
in the way, she said.
"The city code says if we have more than 50 people in the space,
it's an assembly and the owner has to put in sprinklers that would
cost $150,000," Yeo said. "The owner can't do it."
Yeo said she told the fire chief she would stay within the 50-person
occupancy rule for 8 White St. But Borden doesn't believe her,
she said.
"We can't go over 50 people in the church or the cafe because that's
all we can fit," Yeo said. "But there's a lot more room at 8 White St.,
and he thinks we'll go over."
Borden said city inspectors determine occupancy limits based on the
size of the space and how it is going to be used. The chief's role is
to enforce the inspector's decision, and he said he has no discretion.
"I'd love to see them get into a legal building and start doing their
good," Borden said of Somebody Cares New England.
Summarizing the issues, Borden said his preliminary opinion is that
sprinklers would have to be installed in the entire Pentucket Building
before Yeo would be given an occupancy permit for 8 White St. He said
that opinion is preliminary because Yeo has not applied for a permit.
Yeo took her plight to the City Council last week, asking councilors
for help and the public for ideas about finding a new, larger home. At
the meeting, she told councilors that Borden "seems to think I'm
challenging his authority" when she tries to talk to him.
About 25 of the organization's volunteer workers packed the council
meeting with Yeo. Councilors raved about Yeo's impact on the city's
needy and the Acre, but said there is little they can do to help her.
When contacted by a reporter last week, Mayor James Fiorentini said
he was unaware of Yeo's problems.
"She does a lot of great work in the city and I'd like to see her be
able to stay," the mayor said of Yeo and her organization. "I have
no problem with where she wants to move to. But the fire chief has
a lot of independent authority."
Ideally, Yeo said she wants to buy the spacious Armenian church, St.
Gregory the Illuminator, next to City Hall. But she said she cannot
afford the $800,000 asking price. The Armenian church congregation is
building a new home on Route 125 and is merging with another Armenian
church in Lawrence.
"We could have our church and our food distribution operation and all
our offices in the Armenian church and have plenty of room," Yeo said.
"Then I'd like to open a food and thrift store business and a
restaurant on Winter Street. All I need is eight people to donate
$100,000 each."
Yeo's organization has about $25,000 in the bank, the result of 25,
$1,000 donations, she said.
An ordained minister who has lived in Haverhill since 2003, Yeo
has been feeding Haverhill's needy since 1999, when she would truck
food from Brentwood, N.H., to the city's drop-in shelter. In 2004,
she began running her operation out of Trinity Episcopal Church,
before outgrowing that space.
Somebody Cares New England
Years in the city: 10 (last two in Olympia Square)
Meals served in 2009: 10,000
Bags of groceries given away in 2009: 8,000
Religious program: Two Saturday Christian services
Cafeteria: Open for breakfast and lunch on Saturday and holidays
Food pantry: Open at least once per month and in emergencies
Where it gets its food: Merrimack Valley Food Bank, Paisley and
Ingaldsby farms, and local bakeries such as Fantini and Emily's.
By Shawn Regan; [email protected]
The Eagle Tribune
February 02, 2010 12:13 am
HAVERHILL - The director of a group that feeds and helps the city's
needy says fire Chief Richard Borden is blocking her plans for
expansion. But the chief said he is merely following the building
code and has no discretion over the matter.
Marlene Yeo, director and founder of Somebody Cares New England,
operates a food pantry, cafeteria and Community Christian Fellowship
church at the edge of the Acre neighborhood, just north of downtown.
Since opening in 2008 in the Pentucket Building at the corner of
Winter and White streets, police said they are seeing fewer crimes
in the neighborhood.
With the economy in the tank and joblessness on the rise, Yeo's
organization, which caters to the homeless and unemployed and their
children, is bursting at the seams.
The cafeteria at 125 Winter St. is small and city rules don't allow
more than 50 people inside at once. The church, which has the same
occupancy limit, is packed for two Saturday services.
"The space is extra tight," Yeo said of the church at 129 Winter St.
"We call it the squishy church. People feel claustrophobic. And we
have the same problem in the cafe. It's so small it's hard for people
in wheelchairs and parents with children in strollers to get around.
We set up a TV in the cafe during church services so people can watch
there. And we can feed 20 to 30 people in the church when the cafe
is filled, but it's not ideal."
Yeo is looking to move to a larger space, but the organization has
limited finances and she doesn't want to stray too far from the Acre.
Those served by the organization don't have transportation, she said.
Yeo thought she found a place, another empty, but larger, storefront
in the Pentucket Building at 8 White St. But the fire chief is standing
in the way, she said.
"The city code says if we have more than 50 people in the space,
it's an assembly and the owner has to put in sprinklers that would
cost $150,000," Yeo said. "The owner can't do it."
Yeo said she told the fire chief she would stay within the 50-person
occupancy rule for 8 White St. But Borden doesn't believe her,
she said.
"We can't go over 50 people in the church or the cafe because that's
all we can fit," Yeo said. "But there's a lot more room at 8 White St.,
and he thinks we'll go over."
Borden said city inspectors determine occupancy limits based on the
size of the space and how it is going to be used. The chief's role is
to enforce the inspector's decision, and he said he has no discretion.
"I'd love to see them get into a legal building and start doing their
good," Borden said of Somebody Cares New England.
Summarizing the issues, Borden said his preliminary opinion is that
sprinklers would have to be installed in the entire Pentucket Building
before Yeo would be given an occupancy permit for 8 White St. He said
that opinion is preliminary because Yeo has not applied for a permit.
Yeo took her plight to the City Council last week, asking councilors
for help and the public for ideas about finding a new, larger home. At
the meeting, she told councilors that Borden "seems to think I'm
challenging his authority" when she tries to talk to him.
About 25 of the organization's volunteer workers packed the council
meeting with Yeo. Councilors raved about Yeo's impact on the city's
needy and the Acre, but said there is little they can do to help her.
When contacted by a reporter last week, Mayor James Fiorentini said
he was unaware of Yeo's problems.
"She does a lot of great work in the city and I'd like to see her be
able to stay," the mayor said of Yeo and her organization. "I have
no problem with where she wants to move to. But the fire chief has
a lot of independent authority."
Ideally, Yeo said she wants to buy the spacious Armenian church, St.
Gregory the Illuminator, next to City Hall. But she said she cannot
afford the $800,000 asking price. The Armenian church congregation is
building a new home on Route 125 and is merging with another Armenian
church in Lawrence.
"We could have our church and our food distribution operation and all
our offices in the Armenian church and have plenty of room," Yeo said.
"Then I'd like to open a food and thrift store business and a
restaurant on Winter Street. All I need is eight people to donate
$100,000 each."
Yeo's organization has about $25,000 in the bank, the result of 25,
$1,000 donations, she said.
An ordained minister who has lived in Haverhill since 2003, Yeo
has been feeding Haverhill's needy since 1999, when she would truck
food from Brentwood, N.H., to the city's drop-in shelter. In 2004,
she began running her operation out of Trinity Episcopal Church,
before outgrowing that space.
Somebody Cares New England
Years in the city: 10 (last two in Olympia Square)
Meals served in 2009: 10,000
Bags of groceries given away in 2009: 8,000
Religious program: Two Saturday Christian services
Cafeteria: Open for breakfast and lunch on Saturday and holidays
Food pantry: Open at least once per month and in emergencies
Where it gets its food: Merrimack Valley Food Bank, Paisley and
Ingaldsby farms, and local bakeries such as Fantini and Emily's.