Volunteers of America is undertaking $50,000 in renovations to upgrade this building at 18 Mt. Vernon St. Bill Forry photo

A group looking to transplant a recovery program that was displaced by the closing of the Long Island bridge is in the process of purchasing a property in the Polish Triangle. Volunteers of America has just under a month to formally purchase a parcel at 18 Mt. Vernon St. that is owned by Rosie’s Place.

The organization’s CEO, Tom Bierbaum, and it program director, Annette Geldzahler, spoke to the more than 20 members of the McCormack Civic Association last Tuesday, updating the civic group on their progress and making themselves available to answer questions.

As of that date, Volunteers of America had 30 days to set up financing for the purchase, Bierbaum said, adding that the building needed $50,000 in interior renovations to be ready for the program to settle in. He described the structure as a “massive” three-family mansion with land and trees. According to city records, the 6,676 square-foot apartment building is currently owned by Rosie’s Place.

When the Long Island bridge was shut down in October for at least three years while a new bridge is being built, the 30 women in the Volunteers program were moved to a Jamaica Plain facility licensed for 11, Bierbaum said. On the island, VOA had operated two programs: one for adolescents, another for women. Had the bridge not been shut down, VOA would have continued as-is on the island, but “this whole thing has been such a fiasco that we have to move forward,” Bierbaum said.

The program sited for the Mt. Vernon Street parcel offers a four-to-six month term for clients who have stabilized in recovery after a detox program, Geldzahler said. “It is a program for motivated clients who want to get their lives together and be re-integrated into the public,” she told the civic association members. It consists of two weeks of orientation before participants leave in the morning to go out and look for jobs, then return by 3 or 4 in the afternoon for structured activities, a communal dinner, and meetings in the neighborhood.

“There is always a structure, and the clients are always accountable to us,” Geldzahler said. The program employs an overnight staff with a security system and visitors are only allowed on the weekends.

Two members of the association spoke up during the meeting to express support for the project. “I frankly think you’re a wonderful asset,” one man said. And City Councillor for the district Frank Baker gave the proposal a positive review. “They run a good operation, Volunteers of America. I think they can definitely co-exist with the neighborhood,” he told the Reporter this week. Baker met with VOA last Friday to tour 18 Mount Vernon St., and afterwards expressed confidence in the organization and the location. 

Two women from the program came to talk on Tuesday about their experiences with the program. “After the bridge closed, VOA kept us all together and everyone who is really serious about recovery has stayed in this house,” said a client identified as Holly who has been in the program for six months. “It sets you up to succeed. It sounds corny but it’s true. I have an amazing job that I love now. It’s given me the opportunity to learn more about what it takes to go down the right road.”

Bierbaum said he plans to throw an open house once the building is ready to open so that members of the community can meet the staff and residents. “The best way for people to get better is to get better in the community,” he said. “You can’t run away from it.”