Partner Spotlight: Maverick Landing Community Services

We sat down with William Wallace Patten, Operations & Content Lead at Maverick Landing Community Services (MLCS) to learn more about the organization and all that they have to offer.

Who They Are – Maverick Landing Community Services:

Maverick Landing Community Services (MLCS) is a small multi-service nonprofit organization in East Boston. East Boston has an immigrant-heavy population with lots of culture. MLCS offers family services which is their bread and butter of the organization. Being right in the heart of the development, they help folks do a wide variety of services – such as help families apply for food stamps, teach people how to approach the police or the court system, and so many other different things they do to help families.

MLCS also has a large, incredible Youth Program. In their Youth Program they offer STEM Education, Robotics, they even offered learning pods for kids to do their homework in their building socially distanced when schooling was all remote.  Their Youth Program also gives kids opportunities to create content, social media campaigns, outreach strategies and other projects that interest them. Their youth can engage in 3D printing made for order and customized for community organizations around Boston, including journals and swag. The Youth also have the opportunity to take on part-time work through Maverick Landing’s food program and the other programs they offer.

MLCS also has an ESOL Program for adult immigrants who would like to learn English. Boston Cares has a large partnership with them there, and you can volunteer regularly with Maverick Landing to tutor adults learning English. If you’re interested, you can visit Boston Cares Allies for Immigrants’ Page.

MLCS hosts tons of events for their community – such as block parties, holiday celebrations, birthday parties, volunteer appreciation events and more. They just hosted an exhibit this summer where folks could walk through and learn about issues in the area like gentrification, air pollution and food insecurity.

MLCS also offers housing support working with an organization called City Life, where they help people who are evicted from their homes, set up housing defense organizations, help with rental applications, and any other support needed for their community members. A lot of the work that they do with City Life for housing support came from the costs of the COVID-19 pandemic.

And lastly, MLCS has their Food Program! An opportunity available for Boston Cares volunteers to get involved in.

Maverick Landing Community Services Food Program

MLCS’s food program happens every Wednesday afternoon, where their community gets together and feeds community members. They serve over 500 bags per week to their East Boston residents.

Their food program began right after COVID-19 first hit. They started very small-scale by just serving their residents. Then, they began to bring food to their community, which turned into feeding not just Maverick residents, but to anyone who needed food in East Boston. They have since grown to even instituting a delivery system, where volunteers make deliveries all over East Boston and now to surrounding communities like Revere, Chelsea, and Lynn.

Their food distribution program is very special to MLCS because they aren’t just helping people and giving out food, but the dynamic of the program is amazing and features folks helping from all different parts of MLCS. The staff, youth – especially those who grew up in Maverick, volunteers, and community members all work together in this weekly production. It is an overall community building experience, and everyone is getting to know each other and creates a truly heart-warming experience for everyone involved. It turned from doing what they had to do, to something they love to do.

About William Wallace Patten:

Will has been with Maverick Landing Community Services for over 2 and a half years now. He joined MLCS as their Volunteer and Events Coordinator. When he first joined the team, there was no volunteer structure set up. Will created a volunteer system to help volunteers work more efficiently for Maverick Landing’s benefit. He plans and hosts orientations and volunteer appreciation events, he has taken over MLCS’ media presence and content, and has been able to bring an audience to all that MLCS has to offer in services. Will now works as the Operations & Content Lead at Maverick Landing, and he works hard with many people across the organization to make sure things run smoothly at MLCS and helps to tell their story.

Will loves working at Maverick Landing and he is so grateful for being able to hold spaces for people to feel warm, and to feel welcome, to feel included, and to feel like they’re really making an impact.

Volunteer today at Maverick Landing Community Services! Boston Cares hosts volunteers at Maverick Landing weekly at their Food Distribution Program on Wednesday’s from 11:00am to 3:00pm – Sign Up Here to volunteer at MLCS!