Friday, April 21, 2017
The Colebrook Chronicle
Around The Region
The Tyler Blain Homeless Shelter in Lancaster recently received several donations of furniture and funds
following a call to action on social media. Courtesy photo.
(Continued from page 14)
ily room, which had one queen
bed and two twin beds needed to
be replaced, she jumped to
action. She thought that the
Tyler Blain House, which calls
itself a “home between homes”
should have “new comfy beds and
charming sheets” and reached
out to her friends and family to
raise $1,095 from twenty-four
different people. Casper, an
online mattress retailer, donated
a queen and two twin beds for
the new family room. The money
raised was used to purchase
kitchen supplies, bath towels, an
area rug, toys, a vacuum, and a
new coffeepot. Some of the items
are intended for shelter residents
to take when transitioning into
a new home.
Eileen also was able to donate
personal hygiene supplies to the
Support Center at the Burch
House in Littleton, a program of
Tri-County CAP. Community
donations are the only way to get
this kind of expenses covered.
“Shelter guests can often feel
disconnected from their commu-
nities during a highly vulnerable
time in their lives. Community
support is critical in building
relationships between the home-
less individual and their commu-
nity outside of the shelter. It’s an
extended hand from the outside
that says ‘Hey, I’m here, let me
help’” said Dawn Ferringo,
TCCAP, Prevention Services
Division Director.
“We appreciate all of the
goods that were donated. They
are already being put to good
use. It is nice to know that people
care!” said Jodi Perlo, TCCAP,
Tyler Blain House Manager. “If
people are looking to help out
more for the spring, once May
comes around, we are looking for
ways to beautify the porch, with
flowers, herbs, and vegetables to
plants. We like to have the shel-
ter blend in with other neighbor-
hood homes and look bright and
cheerful and the residents enjoy
taking care of them.”
The Friendship House, a pro-
gram of Tri-County Community
Action Program (TCCAP), is
excited to announce it is finaliz-
ing approval for conditional
licensing to increase the current
treatment roster from 18 to 30
beds for individuals struggling
with substance use disorders and
in need of residential services.
Kristy Letendre, the Director
of the Clinical Services Division,
stated, “After working closely
with the Department of Health
and Human Services health facil-
ities administration for the past
several months, a final inspec-
tion was conducted on Monday,
April 3, and we anticipate
approval within a couple of
weeks.”
The North Country of New
Hampshire has one of the high-
est overdose rates per capita in
New Hampshire and Friendship
House, in Bethlehem, is the only
residential treatment center
within a radius of 65 miles.
Because of that TCCAP part-
nered with AHEAD, Inc. in Lit-
tleton, NH to replace its aging
facility with a proposed $5MM
facility. It appears over half of
this will be supported by various
grants.
The bed capacity for the new
building based on single occu-
pancy is 32 beds. With this new
facility, TCCAP will able to
extend services with increased
efficiency and effectiveness to
more individuals because of bet-
ter infrastructure and equip-
ment. This new facility will allow
TCCAP to serve private insur-
ance individuals it cannot serve
at this time due to private
insurer requirements.
Tri-County CAP is currently
working with other potential
partners, whom could work to
manage the program and main-
tain the current staff. Chief
Executive
Officer,
Robert
Boschen said, “We hope ground
may be broken this spring on the
new building. We expect that the
partners on this project and we
will create this new facility,
which offers a modern program
to the people of the North Coun-
try and New Hampshire. Even
with the intense work of so many
dedicated caring, individuals,
including many of our elected
officials, projects like this often
take longer than anticipated or
one would like. But it is impor-
tant to be timely and get it right!
In the long run, it is all about our
clients and our community.”
If you are in need of substance
use disorder services, please con-
tact Friendship House’s admis-
sions
department
at
603-869-2210 and our caring
staff will be glad to support you
through the process.
Tri-County
Community
Action Program, Inc is a private
non-profit organization has head-
quarters in Berlin, New Hamp-
shire serving Coös, Carroll and
Grafton County in the northern
region of New Hampshire and
over 27,000 New Hampshire res-
idents. www.tccap.org.
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