On most Saturdays in Woonsocket, the Milagros Project runs a free store aimed at assisting people experiencing poverty and homelessness in the city. Volunteers hand out everything from clothing to fresh farm vegetables, and CEO Bonnie Piekarski says she does not require that anyone “prove their poverty” with paperwork.
Last week, the hallways of the Milagros Project were lined with plastic bags overflowing with donated rotisserie chicken, potato salad and vegetables, and the room was abuzz with volunteers scrambling to finish filling them as the line of customers was growing outside.
Piekarski said addressing the city’s growing homelessness crisis is a top issue for her in the mayoral election. According to data kept by the city, homelessness in Woonsocket increased by 35% in the last year.
Piekarski says she’s hopeful the two candidates — incumbent Christopher Beauchamp and city council president John Ward — will be more responsive to the crisis than the previous mayor, Lisa Baldelli-Hunt, who resigned last year over a land transfer scandal.
When she was in office, she infamously bulldozed a homeless encampment after giving just a half-hour heads up to its residents. Piekarski says Baldelli-Hunt also pursued development that was more aligned with attracting new residents to Woonsocket than helping the people who currently live there.
Baldelli-Hunt has defended her record, saying she offered adequate rehabilitation services to the homeless community.
But Piekarski said Beauchamp and Ward have both shown more willingness to work with advocates.
“I think that they’re trying the best that they can, and what’s unique about both individuals is that they’re willing to learn. They’re willing to sit down and have the conversation,” she said.
This story was reported by The Public's Radio. You can read the entire story here.
