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Homeless shelter asking for donations to repair roof damaged by tree

MARSHFIELD, Mass. — A family homeless shelter in Marshfield is asking for money instead of their normal holiday donations this year.

The Carolina Hill Family Homeless Shelter should be taking in donations for the holidays, but this year they have nowhere to put them, which is why they're asking for people to help out with monetary donations.

The money, they say, is needed to fix the roof of the shelter after a tree came crashing down on it earlier this month.

"The storm brought it down and it didn’t just crash on the top of the cottage, the branches came through the building as if they were spears or great, long fingers coming through it," said Kerry Griffin, an Adult Education Coordinator at the shelter.

The tree fell on Nov. 1, and the staff at the shelter has been cleaning up ever since.

"It was amazing seeing how much damage was done to the house just seeing the tree and parts of the tree in the building," said Cindy Lanctot, the Program Director at the shelter.

Part of the tree is still in the shelter, taking up space where supplies are usually stored.

"It’s hard because that’s where we store our extra mattresses, our extra beds, our extra toiletries," said Griffin.

The staff says every part of the building was damaged in some way and that many of their supplies were destroyed.

They say they're fortunate no one was hurt and everyone has a place to sleep, but the holidays will just be a little harder this year.

"We help them to get back on their feet so it’s so difficult because our families are already so traumatized by being homeless and then we’re blessed because it happened in an extra building that we have here on the property but it’s still disruptive to their lives and any added trauma is just not fair to be honest with you," said Griffin.

For more information on the shelter and how you can donate, visit their website here.

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