Newsletter
In the interest of saving precious natural and financial resources, the Women’s Lunch Place
will now circulate our major publications in PDF format only.
Excerpts from the 2009 Fall Newsletter:
Greetings from Sharon Reilly
Dear Friends,
I am a participant in a leadership program at Boston College- Leadership for Change- and one of my instructors is a master of using quotes to convey concepts. Recently, at one of the sessions, a peer, a young man who appeared to be in his early 30s, an engineer and recently engaged, asked if he could share his favorite quote with the class. This is what he said and his words have possessed me ever since he uttered them:
"What I do today is important, because I am exchanging a day of my life for it."
Initially, I thought about all the ways I like to squander time: looking for antique buttons, drinking chai lattes with soy. I also thought about the work that I do at the Women's Lunch Place and those thoughts lead me to the women themselves and the many misconceptions that people hold about poor and homeless women: they are addicts and alcoholics, uneducated, and don't want to work; they can't hold their lives together. And, of course the list goes on.
In those moments, I wished that I could tell those people about the kinds of things I see women doing at the Lunch Place. Things like making a commitment and keeping it to participate in a 14 week program -Working through the Barriers of Employment...
A Second Chance
When Crystal first came to the Women's Lunch Place three years ago, she wasn't in a position to think about taking advantage of many of its services.
"I would come in, go in the nap room, sleep all day, and eat," Crystal said. When WLP was closed at night, Crystal would sleep just outside it.
Crystal was born in New Hampshire, however after many years of struggling with abuse and unemployment, Crystal moved out of her home at the tender age of 18 with a world full of adversity before her.
After suffering the loss of her first child, prematurely, Crystal moved to Massachusetts and hid her pain through drug abuse. She also began dating John, her current boyfriend and avid drug user.
This downward spiral took a turn for the better when Crystal realized she was pregnant for the second time. Although Crystal was still devastated by the loss of her first child, she made the decision to put the well-being of her future child at the very top of her priorities.
"It was my second chance," she said. Crystal stopped using drugs immediately, and John stopped a month after she did. Suddenly, everything in Crystal's life revolved around ensuring the success of her pregnancy and well-being of her future son.
Withdrawing from drug use can be physically and mentally excruciating and difficult, but for Crystal, the thought of having a healthy baby overshadowed all of that...