Pine Street Inn has long led the charge in attempts to ease the homelessness crisis in Boston.
Thanks to the New England Patriots Foundation and Dellbrook | JKS Construction joining forces to donate a new outreach van, the non-profit will be able to impact even more individuals beyond the walls of their shelters.
"We wanted to impact some of the most vulnerable people in the city, the homeless," said Patriots Foundation president Josh Kraft in Quincy on Wednesday.
"There's no better partner than the folks at Pine Street Inn."
Along with Kraft, Patriots legend Andre Tippett and players Ty Montgomery II, Chris Board and Terez Hall were present to unveil the new outreach van.
With the new addition to its fleet of vans, Pine Street Inn can expand the work they do to get the unhoused off the street and provide food and resources to those trying to get through every day and night.
"Learning about the thousands who are homeless in the Boston area was pretty daunting, but to hear what Pine Street Inn is doing, along with Dellbrook Construction and the Patriots Foundation, to have these vans go around and educate people about what's available to them for housing and resources, giving them food, building housing," said Montgomery II.
"It's a pretty cool thing and something I hope I can be involved with more often moving forward."
Pine Street Inn has been doing street outreach since the 80s, when tragically, a regular guest never made it to the shelter and froze to death outside in the cold.
He was just blocks away from Pine Street Inn, and workers knew he had been on his way to see them.
Since that idea sparked, the organization has sent out vans every night, 365 days a year, to make sure history doesn't repeat itself.
The Patriots and Dellbrook Construction visited Pine Street Inn back in October to hand out care kits and Empowerment coats to amplify World Homeless Day. At that point, the van was still in the works, so bringing things full circle Wednesday was paramount.
"We're excited to be back out on the street tonight with the new vans," said Lyndia Downie, president and executive director of the Pine Street Inn.
