Twenty Years of Helping Families

March 31st, 2020 maarks twenty years since the Medway House Family Shelter opened its doors to assist the homeless families of Massachusetts.
Heidi Sia, Program Director, has worked with the family shelter since the day it opened. She is proud of its work and appreciative of how the greater Medway community has helped the families they serve. “I want to thank all the communities in the area for supporting us because they’ve been so generous.”
The Medway House is part of the South Middlesex Opportunity Council (SMOC) which is a nonprofit that funds programs all over the state. (Medway is part of Norfolk County.)
“The community is a critical part of the success of families here,” says Sia, “whether they bring donations or volunteer. Our families feel very supported by the local communities and how generous everyone is.”
Many groups have reached out to help the shelter over the past two decades, from generous individuals to groups like Scouting, local churches, and businesses who provide support. The Town of Medway itself has worked hard for the success of the Medway House. Sia says, “The Selectmen, the Fire and Police Departments, the school system, and the local food pantry too—they’ve been really responsive to the needs of the families and wonderful to work with.”
In the current climate, the need is very great. “We can serve twelve families at a time,” Sia says, “and we average between eighteen and thirty families in a year.”
When DHCD refers a family, the family is greeted by a case manager who assesses the family’s needs and helps them develop a plan to meet those needs. “Each family has its own bedroom,” Sia explains, “but they share a kitchen, dining room, play area, and bathrooms.” The Medway House has an outdoor playground as well, a result of support from the community.
The Medway House does everything possible to foster independence. Sia says, “We’re small enough that families can do their own food shopping and their own cooking. Their day to day is like any family wants their day to be, but there’s a lot of negotiating when you’re in a home with this many people.”
The Medway House connects their clients with any local resources that can help, whether it’s job search support, help writing resumes, daycare assistance, or even just transportation to multiple appointments.
Moreover, the Medway House offers educational opportunities. “We get experts from the outside to come in,” Sia says. They’ve offered seminars on personal goal setting, how to look for an apartment and how to understand a lease, financial management, how to locate community resources, how to choose a daycare provider, conflict resolution, nutrition, and disaster preparedness.
“It’s all about empowerment and supporting people,” Sia says. “The information we’re sharing will help them in their new community.”
Plans to acknowledge the anniversary include a party later in the year when they can hold it safely outdoors, and also a cake for the residents and employees on the actual anniversary date.
Sia says, “Medway has been a good community for our families to be a part of. We are also seen as a resource to the community.”
Sia expresses both happiness and sadness that the Medway House Family Shelter is still active and necessary 20 years after its doors opened. “The fact that this safety net is here and remains a priority in the commonwealth is fantastic. Our agency is a strong, vital agency that provides such a wide variety of services for the families, and that has helped us to stay a very highly functioning program for 20 years. But it’s sad to me that the great need is still there, in 2020. As a society, we haven’t solved this problem at all.”
Due to COVID-19 concerns, volunteering is suspended at the Medway House for the time being, but they still rely on community support. The shelter will be holding a fundraiser, “Twenty in Twenty-Twenty,” where they will ask every donor to contribute $20 toward a new van to transport residents to appointments, shopping trips, and job interviews. To help the shelter during this special anniversary year, please contact Heidi Sia at hsia@smoc.org or visit the website at https://www.smoc.org/medway-house.php.