Melrose Family Room Finds a New Home at Melrose Highlands
By Ellen Putnam
The Melrose Family Room's new space at Melrose Highlands Congregational Church
In December, the Melrose Family Room, which has been a resource for young families in Melrose and surrounding communities for over 35 years, moved from its longtime home in the Green Street Baptist Church to a new space at Melrose Highlands Congregational Church. The move provided the organization with the opportunity to refresh their space while continuing their goal of supporting young families.
The Melrose Family Room was founded in 1988 as a cooperative on the third floor of the Green Street Baptist Church. One founding member has now returned to the organization as a grandparent - “it’s a full generational thing,” said Rachael Gallagher, who is on the board of the Melrose Family Room.
The Melrose Family Room has approximately 100 member families, who can come to the room at any time and let their young children burn off energy playing with a wide variety of toys and making crafts with available supplies. The Melrose Family Room also offers playgroups and a postpartum support group led by Gallagher, who is also a postpartum doula.
The Melrose Family Room is aimed at families with children up to age six. “If someone has a seven-year-old, we don’t say they can’t bring them because they probably also have younger kids,” said Gallagher, “but the seven-year-old is probably going to be bored. On a snow day, we might have a few elementary-aged kids in here, and it can get a little raucous, so we tell people they need to bring something for the older kids to do that’s not maiming the younger ones.”
Gallagher noted that the children who attend the weekday playgroups are accompanied by a mix of parents, nannies, and grandparents. “It’s becoming much more common,” she explained, “for families with nannies to get a membership as an easy place to take the kids, especially with the new dynamic of working from home.”
Other things have shifted for the Melrose Family Room since the pandemic, too. “COVID was really hard for us,” Gallagher said. “We were closed for a while, although families were still paying dues. We lost some of our sense of community, and we’re still working on rebuilding that.”
But that financial cushion from the height of the pandemic turned out to be essential. When the Green Street Baptist Church voted last fall to close its doors and sell the building, the Melrose Family Room found themselves suddenly in need of a new space. “They told us we had to be out by December,” said Gallagher, which didn’t give the organization much time to find a new location.
After looking into possible locations all around Melrose - “one of our board members works in commercial real estate,” Gallagher said, “and that was really helpful” - the Melrose Family Room found their new space on the lower level of Melrose Highlands Congregational Church.
“A lot of members pitched in,” Gallagher went on, “One of our members is a real estate attorney, and looked over the lease. And we have a lot of handy members who helped set up the space. These walls are concrete,” she pointed out, “and one of our members had a concrete drill. How many people have a concrete drill?”
“The Melrose Highlands Church has been wonderful to us through this whole process,” Gallagher added. “It’s great to have this partnership.”
While December was hectic for the organization, the Melrose Family Room is now settling into their new space.
“The new location is more convenient for families,” Gallagher said. “More people are walking here. And we’re not on the third floor anymore, so it’s easier to get in and out.” And the move, Gallagher added, provided an opportunity to get rid of old toys and equipment - some of which had been in the room for decades - and purchase some new items.
The Melrose Family Room has now resumed its busy schedule of events. “We reserve a budget for at least one event a month,’ said Gallagher, “although it usually ends up being two or three a month, especially during the winter.” These events include parties and movie nights. The Melrose Family Room also has a gardening plot at the Melrose Community Garden and will host a spring planting event.
And, Gallagher added, many families love the frequent fundraisers at Santa Fe. “We set up a craft table to keep the kids busy so the grownups can talk. And if we’re getting 30% of the proceeds, why not have that margarita?”
One of the advantages of a cooperative like the Melrose Family Room, Gallagher pointed out, is that the activities can be driven by what members are interested in. “The whole idea is we all take part. If there’s something you want to see happen at the Melrose Family Room, then you can make it happen.”
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