Gabrielle Lord, Contributing Photographer
In the lead-up to Thanksgiving, nonprofits across New Haven are supplying hot meals, ready-to-cook dishes and other goods to people in need.
Christian Community Action — or CCA — His Divine Will Fellowship, Inc. and Beulah Heights Church are the three New Haven organizations with special Thanksgiving services listed on 2-1-1 CTa information and referral service for essential health and social services.
After months of planning, CCA — a family-centered organization that provides employment, shelter and food services — will be distributing baskets filled with ready-to-cook Thanksgiving staples, including turkeys, cranberry sauce, vegetables, dessert and more.
“There are families that are needing to decide between getting food on the table or paying the rent,” CCA’s Executive Director Charmain Yun ’95 said. “This is just a small way of mitigating some of that. It’s a part of this whole journey of helping a family get to a place of stability.”
CCA volunteers will be distributing goods to senior centers and housing authority buildings across the Elm City on Monday. Other churches and organizations will also be picking up CCA baskets that day to dole out to their own communities. The next day, registered families will pick up baskets and any remaining ones will be given out on a first-come, first-serve basis starting at 9:00 a.m. on Wednesday.
In total, CCA will provide around 1,300 baskets, assisted by over 200 volunteers. Although CCA generally focuses on supplying services to seniors, families with young children and disabled people, they do not turn anyone away. Last year they supplied 1,384 baskets.
“Food prices are astronomical right now,” Director of Emergency Family Services Nicole Smith said. “Just one small turkey would be about $25 alone, not including the rest of the food that you have to purchase. That’s why we keep doing it year after year, because so many families benefit from it.”
After three days of preparation and cooking, His Divine Will Fellowship hosted their Day of Joy on Saturday, providing around 800 hot meals to families with children in New Haven Public Schools at Dixwell Q House.
Beyond turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, collard greens and other traditional Thanksgiving foods, families were offered children’s coats and bags filled with diapers, soap, deodorant and other personal care products.
“We particularly target families in the New Haven school system because we find that those are the group of people that are really struggling,” Pastor Brenda Adkins said. “There are single moms, and grandmothers and fathers that are forced to re-raise children over again, so we make sure that we take care of them.”
CCA and His Divine Will Fellowship, Inc. are both funded and supplied by individual donors and local organizations. CCA boasts over 30 donors and sponsors, including Vox Church New Haven, Medtronic and Yale. His Divine Will Fellowship is especially supported by Knights of Columbus, Cornell Scott Hill House Center and Yale New Haven Hospital.
After the Day of Joy, His Divine Will Fellowship kicks right off with their holiday season programming, which includes a gift card drive for their Christmas to Remember event. The organization offers teenagers a $25 to $50 gift card the week before Christmas, as older children may often be excluded from traditional holiday gift-giving.
“All of these projects that we do are based on my personal life,” Adkins said. “The Christmas to Remember is based on me not getting anything for Christmas. My heart was moved to look after other young children that may be waking up feeling like I felt when I was that age.”
Outside of holiday services, CCA supplies food and other essentials for pre-registered families on a monthly basis, along with weekly emergency services to those with immediate need.
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