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Nantucket shelter The Warming Place seeks $75,000 to hire operations manager and raise staff pay
Summary
Deb Dubois told the Contract Review Committee the Warming Place, Nantucket’s only overnight shelter, is asking for $75,000 in general operating support to sustain year-round services, fund an operations manager position and provide modest staff raises.
The Warming Place, Nantucket’s overnight shelter, asked the town’s Contract Review Committee on Jan. 17 for $75,000 in general operating support to sustain its winter shelter operations and to hire a part-time operations manager.
The request, presented by Deb Dubois, would also be used to give shelter staff a proposed 5% raise, Dubois said. “This is the first year that we’ve applied as an independent 501(c)(3),” she told the committee, noting volunteers and two churches host nightly shelter operations and the program has run since November without missing a night.
Nut graf: Committee members pressed for details about sustainability, the proposed position’s duties and how the funding would translate into direct services. The Warming Place described the role as a part-time operations manager to handle bookkeeping, payroll, outreach coordination, volunteer scheduling and grant reporting — tasks now handled by volunteers and leaders.
Dubois said the shelter served 24 unique people this season so far and has 70 volunteers, up from 50 last year. “We use volunteers to serve meals and spend the first two hours in conversation with guests because we really try to create a community,” she said, and added the shelter has strengthened Spanish-language capacity to serve about half Spanish-speaking guests.
Committee members noted the importance of direct-service dollars and asked for a clearer plan for sustaining a paid operations position if the CRC funds part of it. Dubois said the group has begun independent fundraising, had an annual appeal that produced significant pledges, and earlier received a founding gift of $250,000 that helped reach sustainability while they build their donor base.
Ending: The committee did not vote on grants during the meeting; Dubois left the committee with an offer to supply follow-up details if requested. The Warming Place will be considered in the CRC’s grant deliberations later in January.
