Contributed Photos
The following story was contributed by United Way:
United Way of Greater New Haven (UWGNH) broke a record Saturday during its annual New Haven Day of Caring. Hundreds of volunteers teamed up to help hungry families in the area by packaging 37,500 meals – the largest number of meals packed and donated in a single day in the city of New Haven. Every year, 100,000 people struggle with hunger in New Haven County – 30,000 of whom are children.
“As the third hungriest county in all of New England, we know there is a great need in New Haven and surrounding towns for access to nourishing meals,” said Jennifer Heath, President and CEO of United Way of Greater New Haven. “If we want to create healthy, thriving communities, we need to end hunger.”
New Haven Mayor Toni N. Harp helped kick off the event with a rally to celebrate United Way’s community impact alongside volunteers and representatives from Yale University, Yale New Haven Health, Comcast, and UWGNH at John Martinez School in New Haven. More than 200 volunteers participated in the record-breaking food packaging and donation, or lent a hand to clean-up Criscuolo Park and beautify the neighborhood.
“This is really exciting!” said Chris Brown of Yale University. “The New Haven Day of Caring started off as an idea about what we could accomplish when our students, faculty and staff join the larger New Haven community to do good, and Yale University is honored to see this event grow this year.”
“Everyone at Yale New Haven Health is proud to see thousands of meals distributed to those most in need and we are also thankful that so many of our employees pitched in for this beautiful community collaboration,” said Andrew Orefice of Yale New Haven Health.
As part of the event’s rally, a local mom (named Ivanna) shared her personal story of hope to empower others in need. Ivanna and her son Carmello were homeless for two years until she called 2 – 1‑1. After getting into a shelter, Ivanna obtained a housing voucher, and now she and her son have a home to call their own.
“He (Carmello) was so excited, he was just like, ‘Oh, I’m going to have my own room, I’m going to have my own friends outside, I can have sleepovers,” said Ivanna. “I would want him to know that I never gave up on him or us; and that he should never give up on himself or anything in life.”
Babz Rawls-Ivy.
