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Eagle Tribune
Thursday, June 3, 2004
By Tim Logan
Staff Writer
LAWRENCE -- Not too long ago, the top floor of Lazarus House was full of offices, cubicles and telephones: a world of adults.
Now, however, it's a playroom full of books and blocks, puppets and painting: a world of children.
The idea was to give children a place of their own in this Lawrence shelter for homeless families, a place to play and relax and, above all, enjoy their childhood.
The playroom opened two weeks ago and it still smells like new. There are still a few things yet to be installed, but Lazarus resident Marlene Sanchez' children love it.
They bound up the stairs, eager to show off their new play area to a visitor.
"We can learn about the world," says Minerva, 8, pointing to a globe.
Jonathan, 9, demonstrates how he built a tower with cardboard building blocks. His little brother Anthony, 7, takes out two hand puppets, remembering a puppet show he had the other day. Then he rattles a pair of maracas while Evelyn, 6, shakes a tambourine.
"I like it here," she says.
Mom likes it, too. There's a rocking chair and leather couches, where she can take a load off her feet. And the room helps keep the kids occupied.
"They burn up a lot of energy," Sanchez said. "When it's time to go to bed, they're tired."
The aim of this space is to "let kids be kids," said Naomi Aitken, director of the Lawrence office of Horizons for Homeless Children, the agency which sponsored the "playspace." The Boston-based organization has opened about 60 such spaces in family shelters, mostly in Boston. They plan to put another 15 or 20 in North of Boston shelters in the coming months as part of a statewide expansion. The plush rooms, filled with new toys and staffed by volunteers, give kids a structured place to learn, grow and play, their own space in often-crowded group homes.
That's important, said Robyn Frost, executive director of the Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless. The uncertainty of homelessness can take a big toll on a child.
"The lack of stability, the lack of knowing where you're going to be the next day, even the loss of friends and pets, all the things that make up the fabric of your childhood are disrupted," she said. "That scar really does carry them forward into adulthood."
And, as housing costs rise, more and more families are experiencing that disruption, according to figures from the Coalition for the Homeless. In July, 2003, there were 1,662 homeless families in Massachusetts, up from 902 in 1999. Advocates say those numbers understate the problem, as they fail to account for the many families doubling up with friends or constantly on the move.
But despite their growing numbers, homeless families often fall under the radar, advocates say.
"It's really an invisible population," Aitken said. "You conjure up a lot of images of the homeless that are not happy-go-lucky kids who have nice clothes."
Lazarus House tries to give its residents a normal life, said spokeswoman Lana Schofield. Adults must work or look for a job. School-age children must attend school, and preschoolers spend the day in activities at the agency's Good Shepherd Center. Sanchez and her children like it.
They've been there two months, after bouncing among various friends' houses and a motel, after a landlord raised the rent beyond what Sanchez could afford. They even spent two weeks living in a car, Sanchez said.
Now she has a steady place to sleep, help in finding a job, care for her children, and room for them to play.
"This is the best place I've ever been," Sanchez said.
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