Legacy Gift from Grace Baptist Church

Twenty years ago, the members of Grace Baptist Church and the Somerville Homeless Coalition embarked on a joint mission to help homeless families.  When the church closed its doors in 2005, the congregation decided to use the sale of the church building to continue their commitment to the homeless. This past April, after five years of legal hurdles, the members of Grace Baptist Church presented SHC with a legacy gift to continue the work they have enthusiastically supported for over 20 years.

The partnership between SHC and Grace Baptist Church began in 1987. “We had extra space on the second floor of the church,” said Florence Lewis, a long-time member of the Grace Baptist congregation. “We were very enthusiastic about offering this space to SHC to use as a shelter. They came in and renovated the space, and it turned into a very good partnership.”

Though the five-room family shelter has been in high demand since 1987, the congregation of Grace Baptist Church began to dwindle. In 2005, the church made the difficult decision to close its doors for good. “It was hard,” Lewis said, “but we knew that with the sale of the church, we wanted to support the work of SHC moving forward.”

At SHC’s April event, Under the Roof, members of Grace Baptist Church presented SHC Executive Director Mark Alston-Follansbee with their last donation from the sale of the church. "This generous gift will continue Grace Baptist Church’s legacy in Somerville while insuring our shelter is able to meet its mission," Alston-Follansbee said.

The timing of the Grace Baptist gift cannot go unnoticed.  “When we embarked on this partnership, we never imagined the family shelter would still be needed more than ever 20 years later,” said Lewis. “But over the years, we know that through our space and support, we were able to help quite a number of families, and that’s something we’re glad about.”

SHC’s family shelter will remain in the church at Cross Street, but with a new landlord: Seventh Day Adventist Church.  The gift from Grace Baptist Church will be used to supplement the cost of running the shelter, so it may continue to be open to families in crisis and in need of housing.

[Originally published in Somerville Homeless Coalition's Summer 2009 newsletter.]