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Pine Street Inn & Yawkey Foundation Honor Women's Inn Guests

Thursday May 18, 2023

(L to R): Alicia Verity, Chief Program Officer, Yawkey Foundation; Maureen Bleday Chief Executive Officer, Yawkey Foundation; Lyndia Downie, President & Executive Director, Pine Street Inn; and Becky Crawford, Chief Advancement Officer, Pine Street Inn, served a special brunch at the Women's Inn at Pine Street celebrating Mother's Day and the installation of 313 new, energy-efficient windows with Yawkey Foundation as the lead funder.
(L to R): Alicia Verity, Chief Program Officer, Yawkey Foundation; Maureen Bleday Chief Executive Officer, Yawkey Foundation; Lyndia Downie, President & Executive Director, Pine Street Inn; and Becky Crawford, Chief Advancement Officer, Pine Street Inn, served a special brunch at the Women's Inn at Pine Street celebrating Mother's Day and the installation of 313 new, energy-efficient windows with Yawkey Foundation as the lead funder.  

Pine Street Inn, in partnership with longtime supporters the Yawkey Foundation, hosted a special brunch to celebrate the guests of the Women's Inn earlier on Friday, May 12. Senior executives from both organizations and a mother and daughter from the shelter were on hand for a brief speaking program ahead of serving the guests a special meal.

For over 30 years, the Women's Inn has been the largest nonprofit resource in New England for women experiencing homelessness. Today's brunch celebrated the start of a major capital improvement to the Women's Inn, with new windows to be installed over the coming months. Current 30-year-old, deteriorated windows will be replaced with 313 energy-efficient windows that will also bring in additional natural light.

Lead funding for the project comes from the Yawkey Foundation, which has provided approximately $1.1 million toward the project, including a recent $500,000 grant as part of a multi-year, transformational $15 million commitment to Pine Street Inn. This commitment, the largest in Pine Street's 50+-year history, announced in December 2021, is helping accelerate expansion of the organization's housing by creating 400-500 new permanent supportive housing apartments within a five-year timeframe.


A Mother's Day and spring celebration brunch at the Women's Inn at Pine Street is served to mother and daughter Viola Homan (L) and Dawn Rich (R), by Alicia Verity, Chief Program Officer at Yawkey Foundation, which has designated funding toward