The
Bridge House
Plymouth, NH
By Lynn Chong
Story originally written and submitted the "2010 Purpose Prize" **
In 1999 Cathy Bentwood, R.N., felt compassion for Plymouth, N.H.’s homeless, served by the Pemi-Bridge House shelter, a deteriorating building downtown, alongside the Pemigewasset River. Cathy saw that children there had nothing to do, and achieved a small playground project, warming others to the idea of making Pemi-Bridge House more than a roof and walls. She saw that the men lived in the basement of the building, where thin walls guaranteed they could not sleep comfortably, and in winter a glass of water by a bed might freeze overnight. This space was dungeon-like. Was this necessary?
The shelter needed help. Cathy advocated for the poor and marginalized for 30 years, so this work “felt right.” A volunteer at the free medical clinic, she saw many of the shelter’s needy. She joined the Pemi-Bridge House Board of Directors in 2000. Cathy befriended the shelter director, Kim Walters, providing special help for a tough job. Cathy took the story public, creating a video of daily life at the Pemi-Bridge House, “Homeless to Homeward.” Cathy convinced restaurateur Alex Ray to become involved, so annual fundraising at his restaurant could benefit the shelter. Cathy involved more and more of the public in caring about our homeless.
By 2004, due to Cathy's persistence, a large, architecturally-fit new shelter was underway on Highland Street in Plymouth, adjacent to the Whole Village Family Resource Center. The new-built shelter has warm, airy space for families, children, single women, single men. At the heart is a cheerful and clean communal kitchen area. Outdoor space is healthy for children's play. Social services are available next door at Whole Village Family Resource Center. Cathy continued her involvement as fundraiser and Board director. Beginning in 2009 Cathy became on-site Director of (now called) Bridge House.
Ten years after Cathy’s first involvement, the shelter houses anywhere from 20 to 26 individuals. Staff provides extensive outreach, connecting folks in the community with services to avoid becoming homeless. Of late, she's partnered the shelter with N.H. Humane Society, as a foster home for expectant mother cats. Bridge House people thereby participate as humane society volunteers. “Even people experiencing homelessness want an opportunity to give back," says Cathy.
She’s converted the typical $40-a-person fundraiser dinner to “The Community Fun Fair.” People of every advantage and disadvantage, for $1 entrance fee, come together in a field for an outdoors day of fun, staffed by our downtown merchant community, our college faculty and administration community, volunteer grandparents and retirees in a day focused on families, innovating every year with new “attractions.” Bridge House now serves as a bridge between people working on getting their lives together to be proud and independent, and those who already have that.
Each of her days Cathy seems to her friends and supporters to awake with a new enthusiasm for something else to improve life at Bridge House. Her compassion, turned into action, knows no bounds. Bottom line for Cathy: “Every human being deserves the dignity of a home.”
** The "2010 Purpose Prize", sponsored by civic Ventures, is awarded to "Activists over 60". An article in the March 21 NY Times entitled "Ready for Life's Encore Performances," describes the prize and reports on the Civic Ventures Encore Fellows program which provides a pathway for former corporate employees to find their own encore careers combining passion, public purpose and a paycheck. see: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/21/fashion/21age.htm.
Cathy's story has been submitted along with "a record number of other nominations for the prize". The winner will be chosen in May 2010.