The first time Schaida Colon walked into her new two-bedroom apartment in Jamaica Plain in early December, she felt emotional.
After five years of homelessness and living in shelters, the 23-year-old and her 9-month-old son finally have a place to call their own.
“It feels great. Every time I go in the place, I just take a deep breath,’’ said Colon, who is known to her friends as “Shy.’’ “The place is brand new, so it’s just like, the smell? I love the smell.’’
The accomplishment isn’t hers alone. Colon had the support of the staff at Women’s Lunch Place, a women-focused nonprofit, day shelter, and advocacy organization based in downtown Boston, which she says has been her safe haven for years.
Her case manager there helped her navigate the myriad barriers to finding long-term housing and ultimately secure the Boston Housing Authority-subsidized apartment. Women’s Lunch Place was also able to provide Colon with the funds to pay her first and last months’ rent and the security deposit, thanks to a recent $1 million donation made by local, retired businesswoman Anne Bromer.
That $1 million dollar gift is the largest the nonprofit has ever received from an individual. The money is going towards a number of the Women’s Lunch Place’s programs that aim to support vulnerable, low-income women and make homelessness “rare, brief, and non-recurring,’’ according to the nonprofit’s CEO, Jennifer Hanlon Wigon. In addition to providing the funds for women like Colon to put down deposits on rental apartments, the donation also allowed the nonprofit to double its emergency rental assistance budget and pay the staffing costs of its housing stabilization program for a year. The nonprofit’s leaders, however, are directing the bulk of the gift, along with a state grant, to staffing and operating costs of a new winter capacity shelter in Fenway, making 50 more beds available for women in need.
Altogether, Hanlon Wigon estimates Bromer’s gift will help the organization house more than 200 women.
“It’s transformative, really,’’ Hanlon Wigon told the Globe. “Women have special needs, they have special drivers into homelessness. And we need to be that light that shines on that and ensures that people are creative around how we approach these women.’’
The organization’s mission of eradicating hunger and homelessness among women deeply resonates with Bromer. Now 82, Bromer, along with her late husband David, have been involved in housing advocacy since the 70s, when they began attending meetings of the Watertown Housing Authority. They were “appalled’’ at the blatant corruption and discrimination, she said.
“If you were not a widow of a veteran — it didn’t matter if you were divorced, if you were separated, if you were a single mother — you couldn’t get into the public housing,’’ Bromer said in an interview with the Globe. “And don’t even talk about people of color. … They wouldn’t allow it. So David and I were in an uproar about it.’’
They each ran twice, and lost, for the Watertown Housing Authority, but then-Governor Michael Dukakis later appointed David to the body for a five-year term. Even after Anne pivoted to start Bromer Booksellers, a rare book store on Boylston Street she ran for nearly 60 years, she stayed involved in housing advocacy. In the late 90s, a friend invited the Bromers to Women’s Lunch Place’s annual spaghetti dinner event.
“I went with David to that spaghetti dinner, and the next day, I sent a $10,000 check,’’ she said. “David and I decided this was what we wanted to support.’’
The Bromers have donated thousands of dollars to Women’s Lunch Place over the years, helping support the nonprofit when it renovated its space, needed a new van, or had to outfit its commercial kitchen. Anne has remained involved personally as well, often volunteering, and even spending a three-year stint on the nonprofit’s board.
So when she decided this summer she wanted to make a substantial donation to a charitable cause, it wasn’t hard to land on a beneficiary.
“There is no other organization that is more important to me, or ever has been more important to me, than the Women’s Lunch Place,’’ Bromer said. “Its mission from its beginning has not changed, it has been rock solid in its commitment to women in the most wonderful way. … [So] I decided, ‘I’m going to call Jennifer, see what you would do with a million bucks.’’’
Hearing about the impact her gift is already starting to have is meaningful, she said.
“Some women who don’t know me will be housed and have some comfort, and it can change their lives,’’ she said, then paused. “That is such a feeling, that nourishes me.’’
As Colon, the newly-housed 23-year-old, walked through Women’s Lunch Place on a recent afternoon, she was upbeat.
Several people greeted her by her nickname as they ate hearty servings of rice with bulgogi and bok choy, the meal of the day, prepared fresh by the kitchen staff. Women of all ages and racial backgrounds sat, ate, and talked at communal tables, underneath twinkly lights and ornaments put up for the holidays. One guest had a table set up, offering fresh manicures to the other women, while two staff members ran a triage and intake station. Upstairs, one guest relaxed in the library, while advocates, or case managers on staff, met one-on-one with women in private rooms.
Located in the basement of the Church of the Covenant on Newbury Street, Women’s Lunch Place is quite literally a sanctuary for women like Colon, who have few other options.
For much of Colon’s life, stability has been hard to come by.
Originally from Haiti, Colon was sent to live with family in Canada in 2010, and six years later came to Boston to live with her grandmother. But when she began to struggle with mental and behavioral health issues, Colon ended up in state custody; at 18, she became homeless. She was staying at the Woods Mullen shelter when another young woman told her about Women’s Lunch Place.
Since then, it’s where she has always been able to get a warm meal, access laundry and shower facilities, and use their computer and phone banks. Her case manager there, Christina Labossiere, worked with her for years to help her find long-term housing. At Women’s Lunch Place, the priority is to meet each individual woman where she is and provide a full spectrum of support as they find their own unique path to stability. For Colon, it made the difference.
“They were there to be my motivation … when things got hard, just basically to push me through, to keep going,’’ Colon said.
Now, with her new apartment and job as an H&R Block receptionist, things are looking up.
“I’m proud of myself, honestly. … I’m stable, it feels like I can actually be a part of the community,’’ she said. “I feel independent.’’
To her, Bromer’s $1 million donation means more women like herself will get the help they need to get on their feet.
“Women’s Lunch Place is basically like a second home to me, because when I didn’t have anywhere to go, [it] was always here for me,’’ she said.
Niki Griswold can be reached at niki.griswold@globe.com. Follow her @nikigriswold.
