Volunteers Offer Summer to Banish Bed Bugs

Fifteen low-income and refugee families living in Manchester’s Langdon Mill apartments have been tossing and turning at night, losing sleep for two years because of a bed bug infestation.

But they may soon rest easy, as volunteers from Saint Anselm College and other local organizations do not sleep well at night, even on summer vacation, knowing others are in need.

Six students, faculty, and staff have volunteered their summer vacation to help the 60 residents of 82 West Brook Street while their apartments are professionally cleaned. The volunteers live in the Manchester area and responded to an unusual summer plea from Meelia Center for Community Service director Dan Forbes.

“Eliminating bed bugs is always complex work, and it is further complicated in this case given the language barriers and refugee experience of the tenants," said Forbes. “This is why real community effort is necessary.”

The challenges are unique: the residents must move from their apartments bug-free into nearby temporary housing, then return to their cleaned, repainted, and refurnished apartments a week later. Many of their belongings, and nearly all of their furniture, must be destroyed to prevent re-infestation.

A language barrier complicates the Langdon Mill Campaign. When organizers and city health officials meet with families, instructions “have to be translated into four to five different languages,” Forbes said. Refugees hail from Russia, Somalia, Sudan, and Turkey, and they can find the displacement unsettling. Forbes describes volunteer commitment as an invaluable aid to these families.

“We believe success is far more likely if we have volunteers helping families with the preparation for the temporary move, visiting during their temporary relocation and continuing after reentry to reinforce the plan to prevent future infestations,” he told the volunteers.

The comprehensive plan is an approach that Forbes and his community counterparts hope will serve as a model for other low-income residents trapped in bug infested buildings throughout the city. The Meelia Center uncovered the plight of the Landon Mill residents when students contacted a refugee leader with donations from the college’s end-of-year Food, Clothing, and Furniture Drive. The response was, “We're desperate for the furniture, but can you put it in storage? The families are overrun with bed bugs.”

Last year, “we actually almost entirely furnished these apartments,” Forbes said. A system is in the works to provide for the furniture needs of residents through a safe donation program, preventing tenants from bringing in roadside furniture that may be infested.

Forbes expects to expand the Saint Anselm involvement in bed bug projects when the fall semester begins. He coordinates service learning for the college, and has found both interest among nursing students and need in the community.

“This is just one apartment building. Unfortunately many others in the city are also infested," he said. But with the dedication of Saint Anselm College volunteers, fifteen Manchester families will soon be able to sleep tight—and be safe from the bed bugs' bite.

The Langdon Mill Project has posted a list of needed items on their website, http://nhbedbugs.com/.