New Haven Independent

• * * *

Moses, the retiring long-time chief executive officer of Fair Haven Parents’ Ministry (FHPM), was embraced and honored by Robert Orr (in photo with her), of Trinity Church on the Green, and nearly 100 other celebrants “of all flavors,” which is how Moses describes the people of all denominations and races with whom she has been involved as a charismatic community leader and role model.

The ceremony was held Friday night at Christ and the Epiphany Church in East Haven and marked Moses’ retirement after 38 years leading FHPM, located at 160 Ferry St. in New Haven’s Fair Haven neighborhood.
Shouts of “Thank the Lord” and “Tell it like it is, Moses!” filled the church’s social hall, as a score of people whose lives were deeply touched by Moses’ faith and energy testified through reminiscence, anecdote, and song.

During her tenure at FHPM, Moses, through her strong Christian faith, her sense of joy and humor, and her business and organizing acumen, helped put FHPM, founded in 1965, on a firm financial footing. In turn, that enabled the organization to launch among New Haven’s first food pantries, day care and alternative education programs, and be instrumental in the creation of what has become the Fair Haven Community Health Clinic.

And there were formal appreciations as well. Newhallville Alderman Charles Blango read the official declaration of New Haven’s Board of Aldermen thanking Moses for her nearly three decades of dedication to New Haveners, from children to the elderly. “I personally can testify to the breakfast and lunch programs,” said Blango, “because as you can see, I ate a lot of them.”

Blango was followed by the reading of formal declarations of gratitude from Gov. Rell, State Sen. Toni Harp, Mayor DeStefano, and, on the federal level, Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro, whose mother Luisa serves on FHPM’s board. Moses seemed particularly touched that DeLauro, whose declaration cited not only Moses’ contributions to New Haven families in need, but her inspiration, leadership and her legacy, was read into the Congressional Record, for history and posterity.

Board members of FHPM, such as Toby Turner (pictured), Major Ruth, the FHPM board chair (and organizer of the event), and the vice president, Beverly Dykes, presented Moses with gifts. FHPM’s founder, Dr. Robert E. Jones, a high school classmate of Moses from Franklintown, N.C. (population 1,114), likened her to the Biblical Esther, who accepted a challenge to help save her people, in New Haven. Jones also recalled that Moses was terrific at math, organized all the class trips, and had the best laugh in town. And he thanked her husband George for giving her the name her leadership deserved.

In many ways the highlight of the evening was Moses’s own remarks in response.

A natural storyteller, and a kind of lay preacher whose stock in trade is riveting humorous mimicry combined with profound genuineness, Moses told the speaker of honor, Jones, “It’s not your Yale degree that matters, it’s what you do for people!”

“I’m a three-time loser,” she then said, self-deprecatingly. “I’m from the South, I’m a woman, and I’m black. I know where I came from, and that’s why I talk about the Lord everywhere I go… because I came from the Lord and that’s where all of us are going!”

But not anytime soon. First, Moses, who was surrounded by adoring children and grandchildren, nieces and nephews, is going to California, for a long deserved rest. She leaves behind her hundreds of lives touched, motivated, and in action to continue in her joyous spirit.