Phone: (617) 282-8433
Fax: (617) 282-8015
E-mail: SAJubilee@aol.com
Bill and Sue Dunigan, Majors
The Salvation Army is the worldwide evangelical Christian
church, human service agency and non-profit corporation. Its
message is based on the Bible. Its ministry is motivated
by love of God. Its mission is to preach the Gospel of
Jesus Christ and to meet human needs in His name without discrimination.
Who
we are
The Jubilee House is a Salvation Army Center for Worship and
Service, located in the heart of Dorchester, Massachusetts;
between the Codman Square and Fields Corner neighborhoods.
It is also at the center of one of the highest crime areas
(hot spot) in the city. In the past 6 months there have been
14 homicides and countless non-fatal shootings within a half
mile radius of our site.
The house known as the Salvation Army Jubilee House was originally built in 1880. The Jubilee House occupies a 23 room Victorian home and an acre of ground at 10 Melville Avenue. The Salvation Army acquired it in 1996. Since then Majors Bill and Sue Dunigan and their family, have lived in the Jubilee House and directed its many programs and ministries.
Why Jubilee House?
The name “Jubilee House” is derived from the Biblical concept…the
Year of Jubilee. This festival was prescribed by God
in the book of Leviticus. Celebrated every fifty years,
it was to be a year of rejoicing when every debt was cancelled,
every slave set free, every prison opened and every lost heritage
restored. Our credo quoted from the prophet Isaiah (
in Isaiah 61:1-4) speaks of one to come who would bring about
a more universal Jubilee. It is our mission to let those of
our community know that there is hope, joy, victory, freedom,
and deliverance in Jesus Christ, our Jubilee!
What we
do
The Salvation Army Jubilee House is a community based ministry
on various levels. It is a church with Sunday worship
services and Bible studies on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Its
position within the Salvation Army also involves it in many
seasonal assistance and outreach programs: i.e. Thanksgiving
and Christmas food baskets, a wide variety of summer enrichment
programs for children and teens. More recently we have been
involved in serving the evacuees of the Katrina disaster.
The building itself offers a variety of services and ministries,
with weekly
feeding programs, an emergency food pantry, an after school tutoring
and teen program and youth group, as well as weekly clubs and lessons
for children, a Narcotics Anonymous group and several support groups for
men and women . For the past six years, it has also been the host site
for the Gordon College Satellite Campus for the Boston Urban Semester program
by housing students and providing classroom space as well as connecting students
to the community. Over 89 students have gone through this accredited
program.
Living directly in the community we serve, provides a special
avenue for ministering out of the house in service, outreach,
hospitality and sharing the lives and struggles with not only
those who come to our door but those that we encounter on the
streets on a daily basis. Our concerns for the community are
also very personalized as we are members of this same community.
The administrators, staff and several volunteers of the Jubilee
House live on site adding another personal and relational dynamic
to the services given. We are guided by the principles of mutual
respect, serving one another and the community, spiritual growth
and social justice.
Why we are here
Living directly in the community we serve, provides a special
avenue for ministering out of the house in service, outreach,
hospitality and sharing the lives and struggles with not only
those who come to our door but those that we encounter on the
streets on a daily basis. Our concerns for the community are
also very personalized as we are members of this same community.
The administrators, staff and several volunteers of the Jubilee
House live on site adding another personal and relational dynamic
to the services given. We are guided by the principles of mutual
respect, serving one another and the community, spiritual growth
in Christ and social justice.
Some
of those whom we work with
We work with many community agencies in the Dorchester Area
including: the Dorchester YMCA, The Codman Square Health Center,
Dorchester Center for the Visual Arts, Codman Square
Neighborhood Development Corporation, the Codman Square Youth
and Family Coalition, the Home for Little Wanderers,
DSS and DYS, the Greater Boston Food Bank, as well as many
churches and faith based ministries. Some of these local ministries
are The Boston Project, Emmanuel Gospel Center, Ten Point Coalition,
Black Ministerial Alliance, Quincy Street Missional Church,
the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute and numerous others.
HIGHER GROUND
For the past 8 years the Salvation
Army Jubilee House has recognized the vital need to provide
summer activities for high risk teens in the Dorchester Roxbury
area. Growing up is never easy and growing up in the city is
even more challenging. Young people in Dorchester face a difficult
and hostile environment daily. Between the ages of 12 and 20
they will face many tremendous life and death challenges. They
will have to make critical decisions about drugs, sex, crime,
violence and gang involvement. If they are going to survive,
these young people need strength of character, self confidence
coping skills, indeed survival skills. They will also need
to learn confidence in each other and how to develop a positive
peer culture to surround themselves with. Most of all we believe
they need faith in God to face these day by day challenges.
We at the Salvation Army Jubilee House are determined to step
up to the line and to say: this is where, here is how, we are
who and the time is now. We have begun to address this need
through our Higher Ground Program. Our program takes up to
12 teens a week for 5 days ( for 7 weeks) into the White Mountains
of New Hampshire.( We also offer
weekend trips for working teens). Our staff are trained and
credentialed through the Appalachian Mountain Club. The program
also receives equipment use from the AMC.
The teens form trail families and work together hiking and backpacking for three days, and canoeing and kayaking for two days on the Saco River. Over 480 youth ages 12-20 have been served through our past programming. By taking urban teens out of their comfort zone and exposing them to a wide range of back country experiences the teens learn how to rise to the new and unfamiliar, and gain confidence in themselves. They learn leadership skills, teamwork, and encouragement in a positive peer culture environment. These skill sets are then translated into being incorporated into their lives back in the city. Follow up is given throughout the year by staff and volunteers. We also connect the teens to our year round teen enrichment activities. For many it has been a life changing experience.
WAINRIGHT PARK POSITIVE PRAYERFUL PRESENCE
We
have also held Summer Enrichment Programs for the past 8 years.
These have been targeting children ages 6-12. We have worked
out of Wainright Park since this is approximately ½ mile from
our site. These programs have served up to 100 children each
summer for 6 weeks in July and August.
Because of the increase in teen violence we feel the need to target activities for teens ages 12-18 and also the hours of 1-7PM. These hours are when trouble can tend to occur because of teens coming home from work or summer school and having nothing to do.
Our program plans to provide sports, arts and other activities as well as an evening meal followed by a variet of programs i.e. music, performance, youth group type activities. This would be provided 3-4 nights a week . On Sunday evening we would have a brief Youth Outreach/Worship Service from 6:30 -8:00 PM
All we need are volunteers and staff to run the program!! If you are interested please let us know!
