Volunteers & Staff needed for opening of the Tri-City Willand Dr Warming Center!
November 2022
Warming Center of Strafford County at Willand Dr. will be open for activation November 25th!
We are still hiring for multiple positions, need volunteers for overnight volunteer staff as well as helping with food preparation for breakfast and dinner, and have upcoming orientations and training!
SOS Recovery has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Strafford County for operations of the Willand Drive Emergency Warming Center in Somersworth starting November 25th, 2022 through March 31, 2023. The warming center will be opened when weather conditions warrant the opening. We have worked with and collaborated with Dr. Tory Jennison and the Tri-Cities Mayors and Emergency Management Directors on the conditions in which the warming center will be opened. We will be provided a minimum of 24 hours notice before each activation, and longer when it's possible. We have made projections based on the last few years of weather patterns that we expect to be open 75-90 nights between November 25th, 2022 and March 31st, 2023. Since New England weather is unpredictable this is only an estimate. We want to reiterate this is designed as an "emergency" warming center for extreme weather. This is not a seasonal shelter and although we recognize the needs for other housing options a seasonal shelter can result in barriers that might make access impossible for those who need the low barrier approach of this model.
When activated the warming center will open at 4pm to staff and 5pm for participants and will remain open until 9am for participants with one hour of closing and clean up from 9am-10am each morning. We will try to shuttle people to and from the warming center to sites in Dover and Rochester each morning with a van provided by the City of Dover and our own van. It will be essential that we have a number of volunteers throughout every shift of each eighteen hour overnight activations every night the center is open to help staff it so that we can maintain adequate coverage.
Our focus will rely heavily on coordinating care for individuals utilizing the center in an effort to identify permanent housing solutions and meet basic life needs including medical care, mental health supports and substance use treatment and recovery supports. We held a meeting inviting agencies that work in the region to assist with coordinating efforts on Monday November 14th and will send invites out. These meetings will continue and if you are interested in working with us please feel free to reach out by e-mailing John Burns at john@sosrco.org
We continue to desperately need more volunteers and paid-staff to support our overnight staffing when activated starting in just one week. We will also need support for food preparation from local organizations, businesses and local restaurants, supermarkets, and agencies. We are going to offer training for volunteers and staff for serv-safe certifications for individuals interested in helping out with food. Please see below on how to get involved with our food coordination efforts on zoom on Monday Nov 21 at 3pm-4pm. We also have links below to sign up for volunteer training and orientation next week as we will be offering those twice.
This warming center will be low barrier, strengths-based and engage participatory processes where those who need the services will inform us on our approach. SOS has always actively supported those we serve with the belief there should be "nothing about us, without us." We intend to incorporate that in the culture of our operations with every participant at the warming center this winter. We are grateful for this opportunity and look forward to supporting the opportunity for change, joy, and hope in the lives of those we serve.
We want to express our gratitude for those we are partnering with including Red's Good Vibes who will be helping us with some of the food provisions. Dr. Tory Jennison has been invaluable working with us to lead this effort from Strafford County and is spending countless hours assisting. We have several members of the Waypoint team helping us with per-diem overnight staffing. Black Lives Matter Seacoast is working with us and providing some staff support as well. We have volunteer staff support and efforts ongoing working with leadership and employees of our parent organization, Greater Seacoast Community Health (Goodwin Community Health and Families First) and a local group, "Volunteers in Medicine" to support medical needs. Strafford County Public Health Network, Community Action Partnership of Strafford County, Crossroads House, My Friends Place, Infinity Peer-Support, NH Harm Reduction Coalition, Granite United Way, Mutual Aid Relief Fund (MARF), NH Department of Health and Human Services, Wentworth Douglass Hospital, Amerihealth Caritas, Wellsense, NH Healthy Families, HCA Frisbie Hospital, Seacoast Mental Health, the NH Tri-City Homeless Community Outreach Group, NH Food Bank, and a number of faith based programs have all been a piece to this important effort. This project would not be possible without the funding and collaborative support from the Mayors, City Managers, City Councils, first responders and emergency management teams of the Tri-Cities (City of Rochester, City of Somersworth, City of Dover) as well as Strafford County leadership and the County Commissioners.
Can you help with Food Prep and Coordination?
We need your support with coordination of food and food preparation. We will meet online on Zoom on Monday November 21st from 3-4pm. We also have created a link to sign up for slots if you can fulfill food provisions for up to 80 people. Anyone signed up will only be needed if we are activated at that time and we will provide at least 24 hour advance notice.
SOS will be conducting 2 more volunteer orientation trainings at the warming center before we open. Our next training is Tuesday, November 22nd at 5:00pm at 30 Willand Dr. and we will offer it again on Friday morning November 25th at 8:30am. We are asking that if you wish to volunteer that you please start the process on our website. The link to the page can be reached by clicking on this link: https://www.sosrco.org/what-we-do/willand-warming/ You will find we have a link to a volunteer form that allows you to fill out the application online. In an effort to maintain safety and be conscious of public health we will be requiring a variety of vaccinations including COVID-19 vaccines and flu shots for volunteers. In order to work within the warming center as a volunteer we will utilize the same requirements as those of Greater Seacoast Community Health, our parent organization. All staff, volunteers and participants will be required to mask inside the warming center when activated. In addition to the volunteer orientation trainings listed above, we will be offered a highly suggested two-part two day training on Motivational Interviewing. At all of these trainings refreshments will be provided.
We will be open Thanksgiving Day, November 25th, from 10 am - 2 pm! Feel free to join the friendly faces of SOS for some support and companionship this coming Thanksgiving!
Mark your Calendar for Giving Tuesday, November 29th!
Save the Date for our 3rd Annual RICH Conference
Tues April 4th and Wednesday April 5th, 2023.
Sheraton Harborside Conference Center in Portsmouth, NH
Come see these incredible keynote speakers that have already been secured
Contact info@sosrco.org if you are interested in sponsoring the conference or attending as an exhibitor.
Early Bird Registrations opening soon!
Exhibitor Registrations, Sponsorship Applications and our Call For Presentations for the Conference are now all OPEN!
Dr. Orisha Bowers, Executive Director, National Harm Reduction Coalition
Orisha A. Bowers holds a BFA, MA, MEd, PhD in Interdisciplinary Studies, a Graduate certificate in Women and Gender Studies and a Certificate in Complementary Alternative Medicine. Orisha has more than 15 years of experience in social services, nonprofit leadership, grants management, program design, and civic leadership. Orisha’s life work is centered on an intentional merging of women’s studies, education, interdisciplinarity and creativity, spirituality, healing, wellness, and movement. She uses scholarship and vocation to do healing work in communities of color in reproductive health, women’s issues, and communities of faith. Orisha, an ordained minister through the Universal Life Church. She combines a spiritual focus with the therapeutic disciplines of mindfulness dancing to offer the dynamic Dancing Mindfulness and other healing practices across the U.S. Dr. Bowers is the Executive Director of the National Harm Reduction Coalition.
Dr. John Kelly
Dr. Kelly is the Elizabeth R. Spallin Professor of Psychiatry in Addiction Medicine at Harvard Medical School – the first endowed professor in addiction medicine at Harvard. He is also the Founder and Director of the Recovery Research Institute at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and the Associate Director of the Center for Addiction Medicine (CAM) at MGH.
Dr. Kelly is a former President of the American Psychological Association’s (APA) Society of Addiction Psychology, a founding member and inaugural President of the American Board of Addiction Psychology, a Fellow of the APA, and a Diplomate of the American Board of Professional Psychology. He has served as a consultant to U.S. federal agencies and non-federal institutions, as well as foreign governments, the United Nations and the World Health Organization.
Dr. Kelly has published over 200 peer-reviewed articles, reviews, chapters, and books in the field of addiction medicine, and was an author on the U.S. Surgeon General’s Report on Alcohol, Drugs, and Health. He has won numerous state, national, and international lifetime achievements and distinguished scientist awards for his work.
His clinical and research endeavors have focused on addiction treatment and the recovery process, mechanisms of behavior change, and reducing stigma and discrimination among individuals suffering from addiction.
Rebekah Joab, Legal Action Center
Keynote: "Access to Health Care: Anti-Discrimination Protections for People with Substance Use Disorders."
As a Senior Staff Attorney at the Legal Action Center (LAC), Rebekah Joab advocates for individuals who have experienced discrimination because of their substance use, arrest or conviction records, and HIV or AIDS status. Rebekah works on LAC's impact litigation and direct legal services across these areas, with a particular focus on LAC’s legal and litigation strategies to increase access to medication for opioid use disorder and enforce anti-discrimination rights for people with opioid use disorder. During her time at LAC, Rebekah has litigated Finnigan v. Mendrick et. al., which challenged a jail’s ban on medication for opioid use disorder, and written amicus briefs in several cases challenging discrimination against people with substance use disorders, including Dominque Harris v. State of Ohio, Vernon Yontz II v. State of Ohio, and Clint Mueck v. LaGrange Acquisitions, L.P. In her role at LAC, Rebekah also educates and trains organizations and individuals about anti-discrimination and other laws protecting LAC's constituencies.
Before joining LAC, Rebekah was a program analyst at the DC Corrections Information Council. Rebekah earned her BA in psychology from the University of Maryland, College Park, and her JD from the Georgetown University Law Center.
SOS in the Community!
So far this month SOS has taken part in many Naloxone Trainings for Recovery Friendly Workplaces that we have connected with in addition to attending the Dover Library Volunteer Fair (pictured above). SOS was able to connect with a variety of other local agencies and citizens interested in engaging more deeply with their community as volunteers! If you are interested in learning more about volunteer opportunities through SOS please click here:
Megan has been with our team for quite some time now-- first as a volunteer and now as an employee! You likely have seen her face around our Rochester Center, but we are just getting around to officially welcoming her to our team! Megan is a person in long term recovery, she is a mom and finds strength in helping others. She is passionate about her work and making a difference in the community. She enjoys being outside with her energetic son, going for walks, reading and writing. She is currently working towards her CRSW and furthering her education to become a LADC. Megan is very involved with the peers here at our centers and her compassion is a integral addition to our team!!! We are so lucky to have her as a Recovery Support Coordinator! Welcome to the team, Megan!
*** OUR ROCHESTER CENTER'S HOURS HAVE CHANGED***
Dover - 4 Broadway M-F 9am - 8pm
Saturday 10am - 6 pm Rochester -14 Signal Street M-F 9am - 5pm Hampton -1 Lafayette Rd, Building 1 M-F 9am - 5pm Portsmouth- (Inside Families First) 8 Greenleaf Woods Dr.
M-F 12pm-4pm (open to the public)
Please note- We will be screening for COVID.
-Masks will be required.
-There will be limited capacity and limited meetings.
