Select Board grants $7,500 to Gilly's House
Select Board · Meeting of September 2, 2026
Plainville Select Board awards $7,500 in opioid settlement funds to Gilly's House. Executive Director Barbara Gilmeister told the board she and her husband, David, founded the Sheldonville sober recovery house for men after their son, Steven, died of an overdose in 2016 at 25. The house, nearing its 300th resident in eight and a half years, has drawn men from 100 Massachusetts communities and 10 other states, with 24-7 staffing by men in long-term recovery and a food program backed by the Walpole Food Bank.
A board member called the request "a house of love" and said members "couldn't support it more." The board approved the $7,500 grant on a unanimous voice vote, drawing on the town's opioid settlement fund allocation tied to multistate litigation against pharmaceutical companies.
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Source: the Select Board meeting of September 2, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.
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