Shelter Team Leader - Mary Feeney
If anyone knows the Upper Valley Haven, it is Mary Feeney. Mary joined the Haven in its infancy when she and her husband Paul took the job as host couple for the Haven shelter in 1982. “It was a vocation and ministry for us. We put our all into it.”
For the last twenty eight years, Mary has undoubtedly continued to “put her all” into selflessly serving people struggling with poverty and homeless in the Upper Valley. Along with area churches, the Feeneys created the Haven Food Shelf and Clothing Room. The Feeneys also spent a lot of time speaking publicly about the Haven in the early years.
“This place is a living miracle—the miracles you see in peoples’ lives, the miracles of people who come to help us. Oftentimes, our needs are met even before we voice them to the community.” Mary warmly recalls a Sunday morning years ago when there was only one teaspoon left in the shelter. She put plastic spoons in the silverware drawer and thought that she would ask around the upcoming week for donations of teaspoons. When Mary returned to the shelter, she found a large bag of teaspoons at the door with a note saying that the donor had just felt like the Haven had needed some extra spoons. “I hadn’t even put the word out!”
Mary was an active member on the Task Force working to build the new Hixon House Adult Shelter at the Haven. She shares a vision with many of the Haven’s staff of building transitional housing with services, as well as developing a for-profit business that would generate some of the funding for the Haven’s operating costs every year. “The way to take the pulse of the Haven—and to know whether we are carrying out our mission—is to witness whether or not the miracles continue to happen.”
Former Board Member – Sara DeMont
When Sara DeMont began volunteering at the Haven five years ago after retiring from teaching at the Ray School in Hanover, NH, her mission, as she recalls, was to help other people. What Sara quickly realized was that the balance between giving and getting in her volunteer work is blurry. “I can’t imagine not having the Haven as part of my life.”
Sara served on the Haven Board of Directors for four years, and was chair of the Task Force for the new Adult Shelter, and continues to serve on the Program Committee. She volunteers at the Food Shelf every Thursday morning. Through this work, Sara has had many heartfelt interactions with visitors, including a time when tears streamed down an elderly mans’ face after she helped him bring his groceries to his car. “It was his way of saying thank you. He doesn’t know what he did for me that day.”
“I can’t imagine not having the Haven as part of my life.”
Sara says that there is “an energy that echoes within the walls of the Haven. The staff and volunteers accept people where they are in their life and help them move forward. It is an energy of passion, responsibility, safety, a feeling of tension leaving as guests find comfort here.”