A Place to Stay, a Maryville anti-homelessness nonprofit, will soon have its own new place to stay. To accommodate some recent growth, the nonprofit will move its offices into an area church this summer.
Starting June 1, St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church on West Broadway Avenue will open its doors and some office space to A Place to Stay, currently based in the Blount County Public Library. The church currently also hosts nonprofit organizations including the Maryville branch of the Salvation Army and Good Neighbors of Blount County.
Executive Director of A Place to Stay Amanda Proffitt announced the move during a meeting of the library’s board of trustees Tuesday, April 16.
“We’ve simply outgrown,” the library space, Proffitt told members of the board. Shifting to St. Andrew’s will also allow the nonprofit to work more closely with partners such as the Salvation Army and Good Neighbors of Blount County. Going forward, she said, “We hope to continue our partnership with the (library) staff in another way.”
The leaders of Be Aware Blount, a drug use awareness organization that also currently rents space in the library, likewise plans to leave BCPL for a bigger base. As of Tuesday, the organization hadn’t yet found a new location.
A temporary place
A Place to Stay and its staff moved into the library in 2020. The organization initially paid no rent for its space by the library’s reference section, but its leaders began paying a nominal monthly fee in 2023, according to BCPL Director Manny Leite.
Past reporting from The Daily Times states that the library’s decision to partner with A Place to Stay years ago was taken to lessen some burdens on staff and assist an organization that shares values with BCPL. Assistant library Director Anjanae Brueland has previously noted that A Place to Stay employees were often more able to address the problems facing some homeless patrons, specifically, than were librarians.
Yet, the rent-free arrangement came under discussion last year. Some members of the public spoke at library board meetings to support the nonprofit. Some questioned the nonprofit’s presence at the library, along with a lapse in a rental agreement between the nonprofit and BCPL.
Library trustee Logan Hill referenced some of that history when he asked Proffitt about the library’s future ties to A Place to Stay.
“I would hope we’ve built some pretty strong relationships here, and folks know where to find us,” she replied. “That relationship continues, and again, with the relationship with staff here — has been amazing, honestly — I think that will go on.”
Growth
Leite told The Daily Times in an interview after the meeting, “I’ve really appreciated and enjoyed working with (A Place to Stay and Be Aware).”
“They came to us and both of them said that they have outgrown their space,” Leite said.
“The relationship between both organizations will continue. We will be working with them when it comes to providing information and resources when it comes to our patrons in need. That’s what a public library does,” he added.
Proffitt also told the board that she and her staff were very appreciative of the library’s offer of space.
But growth has necessitated the move, Proffitt told The Daily Times in a phone interview Wednesday. “We’ve known for a while that it’s time,” she said. Finding space for volunteers, she said, is especially important. “More and more people want to volunteer,” she commented, and the library space can be a constraint.
She also said that the confidential nature of some conversations between the organization’s staff and its clients helped propel A Place to Stay into finding a new spot.
“We’ve had a lot more walk-in traffic than we’ve ever had,” she said. With four people working on full-time bases for the nonprofit, the space is too small for the current need.
“We’re anxious to collaborate more with our partners in Salvation Army and Good Neighbors (of Blount County),” she said.
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