A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of meeting Rabbi Herb Brockman from Congregation Mishkan Israel in Hamden. As the winter months were approaching, he met with other members of the Interfaith Cooperative Ministries to discuss the homeless situation in New Haven. The coalition, consisting of 41 churches, synagogues and mosques, recruited 19 congregations to create Abraham’s Tent, where for 12 weeks they will host and provide food and a home for homeless men. To hear Herb tell the story of how this came about brought tears to my eyes. He said “we have to do this; we have to find a way to make this work”. I still get chills thinking about it and remember how his enthusiasm was contagious and heart warming.

Mary has one child, a lovely 10 year old son, Mark.  Mary has lived out of state and has had a good job for many years.  However, due to the economic downturn she was let go from her job and has been unable to find a new position.  Having recently gone through a difficult divorce and with no income to speak of, Mary decided to return to Connecticut to live with her mother and make a new beginning.  This has been harder than Mary thought.  She has not found work and can not stay with her mother much longer.  She came to the Community Dining Room for direction an

Daryl needed a hand, just like all of us do from time to time.

Like all of us, he had made some mistakes. He had been to jail, and used cocaine and marijuana. For awhile, he let the drugs take him over.

Like all of us, Daryl had dealt with issues far out of his control. He suffered a herniated disc in his back which made work difficult. He battled depressive and bipolar disorders that made a “normal” life seem out of reach. The mental illness only made it easier to reach for the drugs. Daryl’s life was spiraling downward.

ALSO-Cornerstone had it's first emergency food distribution recently and supplied families and individuals in the agency with over 60 pounds of fresh fruit and 90 lbs of chicken and beef.

The agency has seen a growing need for participants to receive supplemental food during the month. Community resources dependant on donations to hand out emergency food bags have seen a shortage in those donations and the staff finds that client's are often going without food staples and fresh food, especially towards the end of the month.

It's easy to see need in the inner city. Just drive down one of those streets you hear about on the news. You'll see it. Substandard housing. Crime. Neglect and blight. People struggling to make ends meet. Potential unfulfilled.

It's harder to spot need in suburbia. Hunger and homelessness can live right next door. And while the house can be well kept and clean, the family may be right on the brink. That's why NeighborWorks^® New Horizons operates 89 affordable rental units in the suburbs.

While the full benefit of the funding has yet to be realized and evidenced by the stories of those that have been able to tap into our Rental Assistance Program, we are encouraged by the positive response of our residents to the project, and the incentive it is giving them to take extra steps to work with their case manager to identify and secure suitable housing.  More to come in our next posting...

Talk to anyone walking around The Furniture Co-op during “shopping hours” on a Tuesday or Saturday morning, and you’ll find they have an amazing story. One recent client was Ruth, who is 63 years old, and never thought she’d be living in a subsidized apartment, unable to afford furniture, lamps, dishes and picture frames on her own.

25 years ago, a group of faculty and students here at Yale got together to discuss the idea of starting a soup kitchen to serve lunch on Wednesdays. I imagine that at the time they hoped their efforts might be temporary; in the current economy, they could not have been more wrong!

Gladys has a good job at the post office.  Her husband was working, too, and their daughter was attending technical school, getting ready to launch her own career.  They had accumulated some debt - household expenses, school loans, credit cards - but refinanced their mortgage to consolidate debt.  The terms were tough, a loan of 8.9% with payments of $1,553 a month which did not include escrow for insurance and taxes.  Tough but manageable. Then her husband lost his job. 

Mr. Dewitt is a single dad raising two small children who found himself without a job during the winter months. Because he does not qualify for food stamps, Mr. Dewitt has been struggling to provide food for his family. A friend told Mr. Dewitt about the food pantry at Centro San Jose so he decided to come and apply. Mr. Dewitt and his family have come to get food each week since then and are truly grateful for the help. Because of the Neighbor to Neighbor program, this particular obstacle was removed and Mr.