I read the recent coverage noting the concerns of some in the community about the relocations to Court Street of Turning Point Center and the Breadloaf Mountain Zen Center. As the former Lead Minister of the Champlain Valley Unitarian Universalist Society, I have firsthand experience of working with these organizations. I hope that despite the reported misgivings of a few neighbors, we collectively understand that any move that helps them better fulfill their missions is good news for all of us.

I get how new neighbors can easily imagine threatening scenarios involving some people these organizations serve. But the problems they address are generally most acute when such people are out in the community without access to these services, not when they are taking advantage of them.

I want to say something in particular about BMZC’s Gather drop-in center and the “homeless” people who are among its guests. I was so impressed with BMZC’s execution of its vision of hospitality when it created Gather that I became a volunteer host there upon retiring from CVUUS in June, 2023.

Yes, Gather attracts people who lack housing, or whose housing is precarious. Not surprisingly given its daytime meeting hours, guests tend to have part-time jobs or no paid employment at all, but that’s also true of many of the older folks who are trained “hosts.” Mental and physical health concerns are common topics of conversation, but so are town gossip, popular culture, memories of growing up around here and just about anything else people like to gab about. Board games are played and art is made. Food is shared. Clothes are washed. Some folks shower. The goal, as Joshin wrote, is truly for all guests and hosts to grow “in trust, respect, and mutual understanding” of others whose lives may be very different. It is regularly met to an extraordinary degree.

The hosts undergo serious training and have weekly meetings to help that happen. But I know regulars among the guests are now among the most devoted and effective protectors of this welcoming space. Treatment for cancer has kept me from hosting during the move to Court Street. But I can’t wait for that necessary exile to end. And I strongly urge anyone with qualms about Gather’s presence in the Middlebury Union High School neighborhood to visit.

Barnaby Feder

Middlebury