Kindness Links Homeless Man with Charlestown Apartment

For the first time in a long time this week, Fred Robins went home.

The 77-year old Maine native and former ship worker had been living on a $713 Social Security stipend, which, in the Boston rental market, didn’t leave him with enough money to cover his bills and housing.

With nowhere else to go, he had been sleeping at Logan Airport.

This week, though, he unlocked the door of his Charlestown apartment for the first time.

The story began, according to a spokesperson for Bank of America, when Robins visited one of the bank’s branches in Southie. Valerie Ferry, the banking center manger there, recognized his situation, and asked her supervisor what they could do about it. The supervisor, in turn, contacted the United Way and found out about linking Robins with an apartment through the Boston Housing Authority.

Then, Ferry helped Robins fill out his application.

The authority approved Robins’ application, and, after a bit more bureaucracy, he was given the keys to his furnished home on Bunker Hill Street this week.