Meet Karlee's Home Team: Locals step up to lead Willand Warming Center

SOMERSWORTH — Rochester residents Amy Malone, Dillon Guyer and Melena Lugo are the three principals behind Karlee's Home Team, the newly formed 501(c)(3) nonprofit selected to manage the Willand Warming Center in 2023-24.

"We have great humans to run this," said Malone, who is a Rochester city councilor with experience in her career helping unhoused populations. "We have highly qualified staff, and their hearts are in the right place. We have volunteers lined up, but we will not turn away others who want to help."

Karlee's Home Team's bid of $207,800 was chosen by city leaders from Dover, Rochester and Somersworth, which combine to oversee the center at 30 Willand Drive in Somersworth. The contract is for November 2023 through March 2024. The center is not a full-time shelter, but opens during cold weather events and serious winter storms. Rochester City Manager Katie Ambrose said the final details are being worked out on the contract.

How Karlee's Home Team got its name

Karlee Drew was a 10-year-old girl who died of leukemia in July 2016, and she was best friends with Malone's and Lugo's daughters. They all worked on a mission to grant Karlee's wish to meet pop star Justin Bieber, and the determined parents made it happen in May that year.

"When I heard she (Karlee) got word that her wish was not going to happen, I said, 'This is not OK, and how can we fix it?'" Lugo recalled. "I started reaching out on social media. We banded together. I even emailed Justin Bieber's mother. We started this media campaign and flooded every avenue we could think of. Radio stations jumped on board. In the end, Justin Beiber's team reached out to the wish team and arranged to meet Karlee. Her wish was granted."

Lugo said Karlee's family supports the name for the nonprofit. She said Karlee's Home Team has started small and they are excited about their new venture.

"Our Girl Scouts made Karlee's care kits, sending them to Dartmouth-Hitchcock for kids receiving cancer care," Lugo said. "We kept talking abut making it official for a few years. My daughter finally said, 'do it,' and here we are."

Team brings experience to Willand Warming Center

Lugo, who has worked for 15 years as a security officer, said she will be the safety training officer for the Willand Warming Center. She will also be the liaison to the Tri-City emergency officials involved in making the decision to open the center based on weather.

Guyer, who plans to lead the social media effort among other duties, said he came to giving back to the community after overcoming problems as a teenager.

"I was your categorically troubled youth," Guyer said. "I was getting arrested in my senior year of high school, in juvenile diversion programs at 17. I got connected with great resources and I turned my life around."

Eleven years ago, Guyer started Guyer Travel Network, a travel agency with a heart, as he describes it, and he now has five locations.

"What's different from other travel agencies is I donate 50% of all profits back into the communities," he said. "I think of it this way. People are a little selfish in booking their vacations, but with me, they are selflessly giving back, too. Here, I have donated over 3,000 stuffed backpacks. I run movie nights and I DJ for free at school dances."

Guyer assisted in helping Karleee meet Justin Beiber, connecting with Malone and Lugo. He helped their cheer team raise the money they needed to go to the Citrus Bowl in 2019 in Orlando, Florida, too.

"It became the trifecta of care, the three of us, and we became best friends," Guyer said. "We are committed to helping our communities, and this is our first big action, and I know we are doing the right thing."

Malone, executive director for Karlee's Home Team, has a long history in working with homeless people, and she comes from a place of personal experience. There was a time when she was an unsheltered teen, couch hopping until people came forward to help her.

"I worked for 5-6 years in homeless service for Waypoint," she said. "Currently I am on the mobile crisis response team for Community Partners. For me, for all three of us, this is a passion project. We feel strongly about this, and we are willing to put our all into making it a success. ... Myself and some of the sober living group people wanted to step up when we heard there might not be a group to operate the shelter this winter."

At the Willand Warming Center, Malone and Lugo will be hands on, including overnights. Guyer, who has experience working in soup kitchens and shelters, said he will help at the center, but he sees his biggest role as the social media presence.

"I will take the calls, interview people," he said. ""I will be there whenever needed to help coordinate the volunteers."

Work begins to prepare for Willand Warming Center season

Malone said the Willand Center is low barrier, meaning while there is no use of alcohol or other substances allowed on site, it is not necessary for a person to be in recovery to come inside get warm for the night.

"We are so excited," Malone said. "We already have reached out and gotten support from all the area agencies and emergency services we will work with. While we are offering overnight shelter, we will also work very hard to connect our clients with the services they need to move forward with their lives. We will meet them where they are, and we want to help."

Malone said Tim Jones, chief executive officer of Frisbie Memorial Hospital, has committed to supplying the center with first aid kits. New Hampshire Harm Reduction is committed to help, too. She said she has reached out to others, like Wentworth-Douglass Hospital, SOS Recovery Services, Community Action Partners of Strafford County, Infinity Peer Support, The Share fund, and Gerry's Food Pantry, to see how they might help.

"We want to offer a warm, safe, inviting atmosphere," Malone said. "People can come for a bed, get some food, maybe play cards with others. We will not do case management ourselves, but we can help them find what they need. That's my goal."

"We have heard from so many people, from organizations and community members," Lugo said. "They ask, 'What can we do to help. What do you need?'"

The key distinction between seasonal warming centers and year-round shelters is the emphasis on protecting individuals from life-threatening extreme weather conditions. Other shelters in Strafford County, such as My Friend's Place in Dover and the Homeless Center for Strafford County in Rochester, operate year-round and have different missions than the Willand Warming Center, which prioritizes harm reduction-oriented approaches with minimal barriers to access. These differences may include variances in intake processes, background checks, alcohol and drug testing, among other variables.

Anyone interested in getting involved can email to karleeshometeam2023@gmail.com.

This article originally appeared on Fosters Daily Democrat: Karlee's Home Team to lead Willand Warming Center in Somersworth NH