YourCT.com header image 2
← Bigotry, Obama, and Us Creative Connections Offers Student Exchange Musical Tour →

Norwalk Emergency Shelter Food Drive


by turfgrrl


October 9th, 2008 · 3 Comments

From a press release:

10/10/08: NORTHEAST COMMUNITY CHURCH TO COLLECT FOOD FOR NORWALK EMERGENCY SHELTER
New Norwalk Church Sponsors Second Annual 1010 Community Day, will also Clean Up Park, Hold Neighborhood Kids Celebration

Schedule:
9 a.m. - 1 p.m. City Park Beautification at Bouton St. Park
in partnership with Robidoux Landscaping and The City of Norwalk
2 - 4 p.m. Neighborhood Kids Celebration at Bouton St. Park
2 - 7 p.m. Food drive to benefit Norwalk Emergency Shelter
at Stop and Shop at 380 Main Ave., Norwalk
5-7 p.m. Food drop-off for Norwalk Emergency Shelter
at Sunoco Ultra Service Center at 336 Main Ave., Norwalk

MEDIA ALERT: One additional project will be announced on Friday morning, 10/10/08

NORWALK, CT, October 7, 2008 – Northeast Community Church, the newest of churches in Norwalk, CT, will collect food donations from the community for the Norwalk Emergency Shelter as part of its second annual “1010 Community Day” of giving and serving in Norwalk on Friday, October 10, 2008.

Food donations for the Norwalk Emergency Shelter will be collected at the Stop and Shop at 380 Main Avenue from 2 – 7 p.m., and at the Sunoco Ultra Service Center at 336 Main Ave. from 5 – 7 p.m. A list of food items needed by the shelter and maps to the various locations for the day’s projects will be posted at www.NECCLife.org and at http://1010project.blogspot.com. Volunteers at the two collection sites will also have lists of needed items.

“We are very excited to partner with Northeast Community Church for 1010 Community Day again this year,” said Carole Antonetz, Executive Director of the Norwalk Emergency Shelter. “We’ve witnessed a dramatic increase in need for our soup kitchen and food pantry over the past couple of months. In July we served 21,000 meals, and in August we served more than 26,000. That was 46% more meals than we served in August last year. With more families experiencing job losses and unforeseen challenges in the current economic downturn we anticipate this trend will continue. The 1010Day food drive comes at a critical time for us. Our food supplies are nearly depleted, and donations are unusually low – and we haven’t even hit the cold months yet,” she added.

Food items to be collected include: coffee (regular/instant), tea, hot chocolate, milk, powdered milk, evaporated milk, punch (powder mix), sugar, cornstarch, flour, cereal, oatmeal, grits, butter, margarine, grape jelly, complete pancake mix, syrup, cinnamon, cooking oil, salt/pepper, microwave popcorn, chips, crackers, granola bars, salad dressing, mayonnaise, mustard, ketchup, BBQ sauce, fresh/canned fruit, raisins, sardines, canned tuna, bouillon, canned pasta dinners, pork & beans, canned beef stews, luncheon meats, Spam, peanut butter, macaroni & cheese dinners, chili, corned beef hash, canned ham, potatoes/ instant mashed potatoes, dry beans, rice, noodles/pasta, pasta sauce, tomato sauce, canned soups, canned vegetables, pimientos, onions. Laundry and dish detergent is also needed.

Other community-wide initiatives planned for this year’s 1010 Community Day include a beautification project at Bouton St. Park from 9 a.m. – 1 p.m. and a Neighborhood Kids Celebration at Bouton St. Park from 2 – 4 p.m.

Volunteers will be weeding, mulching and replacing the woodchips in the children’s play areas at Bouton St. Park, trimming back trees and bushes and refurbishing picnic tables. Robidoux Landscaping and The City of Norwalk Recreation and Parks Department are partnering with Northeast Community Church for this project.

The Neighborhood Kids Celebration which follows the park spruce-up will include free candy, face painting, an inflated bounce house, plus organized games and activities.

“The annual 1010 Community Day is the centerpiece of Northeast Community Church’s 1010 Project, a concept that responds to the message of Jesus in John 10:10: ‘I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full,’” said Thomas Mahoney, Lead Pastor. “We at Northeast Community Church are convinced that the kind of life Jesus had in mind is available here and now, and it comes with serving others. The people of NECC want to steward their human, spiritual, technical and financial resources into some time-bound, measurable goals. By working toward those objectives, we hope to really experience, demonstrate and share life to its fullest in Christ. While we know we can’t do everything, we believe we can do something,” he remarked.

“We are especially excited about the powerful synergy that is created when the 1010Project brings together for-profits and non-profits for the sake of their communities,” added Associate Pastor Kevin Mullins. Sunoco station owner Bobby Sherman’s business is participating for the second year. Robidoux Landscaping and Stop and Shop are new partners for the 1010 Community Day, he said.

“1010 Community Day, sponsored by the Northeast Community Church, is a community event for the City of Norwalk, and I hope all residents will consider taking part in some way by serving others through an act of kindness on October 10th and other days throughout the year,” stated Norwalk Mayor Richard Moccia. The Mayor will proclaim October 10 “1010 Community Day” again this year.

Church members are inviting all interested community volunteers and businesses to participate in the 1010Day projects. A “Top 10 List of Kindness Acts” to get people thinking about other ways they might serve their neighbors has been posted to the 1010Day blog, http://1010project.blogspot.com, and visitors are encouraged to add their own ideas.

This past spring, the 1010Project gathered volunteers together to clean up Calf Pasture Beach for Earth Day. Northeast Community Church also launched its 1010Project Mentoring Initiative in June.

Established in 1983, The Open Door Shelter at 4 Merritt Street in South Norwalk is also known as the Norwalk Emergency Shelter. Services for single men, single women and families include a 95-bed emergency shelter; the Manna House of Hospitality which provides breakfast, lunch and dinner; individualized counseling; the Once and Again clothing room; and programs to provide interim and permanent housing. For more information call 203-866-1057 or visit www.norwalkemergencyshelter.org.

Northeast Community Church is a nondenominational Christian church. Weekly worship services are held at 10:30 a.m. on Sundays in the auditorium at West Rocks Middle School, 81 West Rocks Rd. in Norwalk; the current message series is “Fuel for Life.” Children’s programs are offered beginning at 10:30 a.m. Church offices are located at 18 Knight Street in Norwalk. For more information, call the church office at 203-838-4708 or visit www.NECCLife.org.

Tags: Calendar · Norwalk

3 Responses so far ↓ “Norwalk Emergency Shelter Food Drive”



  • 1 justMe // Oct 12, 2008 at 10:42 pm

    Seems like it didn’t help at all, did it?

    Downturn in economy sees upturn for shelters

    NORWALK

    By JILL BODACH

    Hour Staff Writer

    Each day Carole Antonetz, executive director of the Norwalk Emergency Shelter and the Manna House of Hospitality, watches the line that forms outside of the soup kitchen on Merritt Street get longer and longer.

    “The food situation right now is a major concern,” Antonetz said. “The donations, both monetary and food-wise, are very low. At the same time, we’re seeing a lot more people coming to us, telling us they lost their jobs and are looking for food.”

    Manna House served 26,400 meals in August 2008, 46 percent more than were served in August 2007.

    Antonetz said she first noticed the increase in visitors to the soup kitchen in early summer, so that by the time August hit the numbers were at a peak. Eventually, the people seeking a meal might also seek housing, causing another concern for Antonetz about whether she will have enough beds to accommodate everyone who comes looking for one in the winter months.

    “We’re concerned because usually the summer is slower for us,” Antonetz said. “It’s usually the winter when more people come to the soup kitchen because they can’t afford to pay to heat their homes and buy food. The increase we’re already seeing makes us wonder where we’re going to face in the winter months.”

    The downward spiral that is the economy is, of course, a factor.

    “Such a dramatic downturn in the economy usually impacts our resources in two ways (because) it increases our expenditures and dramatically decreases the amount of donations we receive,” Antonetz said. “As we head into our busiest season of the year, the fall and winter months, we face an even greater challenge in the form of fuel surcharges from food delivery services, repairmen, carting and others affected by the soaring cost of gasoline.”

    Kate Kelly, manager of the Reaching Home Campaign for the Partnership for Strong Communities, said she doesn’t have any tangible data yet, but that she suspects that Antonetz’s fears of increased usage of the shelter and the soup kitchen will be realized by many homeless shelters and soup kitchens this winter.

    “When we did our Point-in-Time homeless count in January of this year, about one-third of adults and families who were homeless were currently working and had an income at the time of the count,” Kelly said. “If those families were having a hard time then, the picture is bound to get worse with the economy, especially as we see homes foreclosed on and renters being evicted.”

    Shelters are fearful that funding cuts from the government may make an already bad situation worse. No cuts have been concretely discussed yet, but the fear exists.

    “Everyone is worried,” said Carol Walter, executive director of the Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness. “With a $300 million and counting state budget deficit, with cuts to the state Department of Social Services, an entity that funds a majority of the shelter programs, you get worried about cuts. The thought to cutting even a single penny is terrifying when you think of what that might mean.”

    It might seem as if only grandiose, short-term plans will heal this delicate situation, but Walter said the solution is something that the state is already working on and needs to continue to work on: Supportive and affordable housing.

    “The answer is not to build more shelters, but the answer is more housing,” Walter said. “This whole economic crisis started with the housing bubble housing, and it burst a long time ago for those who are homeless. If we have more affordable and supportive housing available, then families don’t have to be in crisis. Families don’t have to go to shelters.”

    As for more immediate food needs in Norwalk, Antonetz said the soup kitchen needs everything. On Friday, Northeast Community Church, a nondenominational church in Norwalk, as part of its community service day project, donated canned goods and other nonperishables to Manna House. More donations like this are necessary, Antonetz said.

    “We need everything,” she said. “Ideally, we like to have at least a two to three month supply of food on hand. Right now, we have a two to three week supply.”

  • 2 Diane C: different tune? // Oct 13, 2008 at 12:01 am

    to JustMe: here is my version of comment from director on 10/2 regarding complaints of lack of good food and no fresh juice:
    “Shelter almost always has more food than it knows what to do with, but yes, perpetually short on fresh juices (orange, apple) because so expensive. All meals are produced fresh, has fulltime chef on duty, serve 3 hot meals a day, eat better than most. Said food is so good that some residents remarked about fearing to need reservations to get in…”.
    So we went from
    “almost more than we know what to do with”
    to
    “We need everything,” she said. “Ideally, we like to have at least a two to three month supply of food on hand. Right now, we have a two to three week supply.”

    Yesterday, finally got the financial statement for year ended June 2007. Been shaking my head since I opened the envelope - none of it makes sense, so I will enlist some financial wizards to have a little look-see.
    Oh, and for the blog record, Carol is supposed to call me this Tuesday to schedule my appointment, the one she was supposed to call me for LAST week but was too busy.
    Others are starting to ask questions, too…..

  • 3 Anonymous // Oct 13, 2008 at 12:34 am

    Well I don’t see the mayor cutting any red tape here to help out.The figures were surprising to hear but why days before winter starts?

Leave a Reply