Hello TBE Members.
It is time again to organize the Christmas Eve dinners at the shelters. As you might have guessed they will, once again, look somewhat different this year due to COVID restrictions.
All activities will occur on Friday December 24.
For those of you new to TBE and this event, we provide gifts and holiday meals for residents at three shelters in Stamford. For those of you who have participated in the past, we will do a modified version of what we have done in the past due to COVID restrictions. We hope to resume our normal activities in 2022.
There are three events confirmed (lunch at New Covenant House, dinner at Pacific House and dinner at Franklin Street). What will be different?
- No one will be in person at Franklin Street as we will just drop off all the food and gifts.
- At Pacific House, we will have 2-3 people at the site to serve the meal.
- New Covenant will have 2-3 people in-person inside to help prepare the meals to go and the hot chocolate to go.
- No choirs will be able to perform due to COVID this year, but we look forward to this special performance next year.
- We will provide food for Pacific House, and we can cook it in our homes as we always do.
- We will provide food for Franklin Street, but it cannot be cooked in our homes unless we provide proof of vaccination. So, this year we will collect money to order food from local restaurants to deliver to the shelter. They will not take food that is not from a licensed restaurant/caterer unless the food preparers submit proof of vaccination. This will be complicated to manage so we prefer to purchase the meal from a restaurant.
- We will provide food for New Covenant (sandwiches, desserts and hot drinks) and gifts.
- Gifts should be wrapped by the people providing them and labeled with what they are and whether for female or male, and if for children note the age range.
Here are the details of the three confirmed events:
1.New Covenant House (10:15 am-12:30 pm) - Three or four people will help prepare and package lunch and prepare the hot chocolate. This year we will also be providing sandwiches to go in the “to go box.” Volunteers would be there approximately 10:15 am-12:30 pm. We will provide extras of hot chocolate and desserts. We will provide new hats, winter socks, scarves or gloves for ~125 people (mostly men, ~5 women).
2.Franklin Street Inspirica location - We will still provide a holiday meal for about 60 parents and children, but this year we will have to collect money to order food from a local restaurant in large trays. The staff of Franklin Street will then package it in family containers and hand it out to the families. New gifts will be provided for the residents (make-up bags for the women and teenage girls, toys for the children and gifts for the men). Gifts should be wrapped and labeled with gender/age.
3.Pacific House – We will provide a festive holiday meal for about 60 men. Food will need to be donated/cooked ahead of time. We will provide gifts of NEW hats, gloves or scarves for the residents. Please wrap these gifts and label them.
This year there are several possible ways in which you can help:
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Donate make-up items for the moms at the Franklin Street shelter.
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Donate food/paper goods (Sign up using the Google sheet at this link below.)
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Donate new wrapped gloves/hats/scarves/winter socks for the men’s shelter at Pacific House and New Covenant House.
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Donate toys for the children at Franklin Street.
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Three people to prepare and package up food in to go containers for lunch on December 24 at New Covenant House.
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Donate money to be used to buy either gifts for the residents (socks, gloves, scarves, hats, make-up, toys) or food for the meals. This will be critical this year as Franklin Street food must be purchased from a restaurant/caterer.
If giving money, please make check out to TBE, note in the memo it is for the Christmas Eve Shelter event, and send it to TBE, 350 Roxbury Road, Stamford, CT 06902. Also email me at aetemple@optonline.net to let me know about your donation.
If you are donating any gifts, please wrap them and put a Post-It note on the outside with what is inside; such as gift for Franklin Street boy 9-11 years old or scarf for Pacific House.
In total we expect to serve dinner to well over 200 people that night so our needs are great for food, gifts and paper goods. Non-perishables can be dropped off at the site coordinator’s home any time prior to December 24. If you plan to drop it off before the 24th, please contact the site coordinator by phone, text or email and coordinate the timing. Perishables have to be dropped off at the coordinator’s house. Please check with her what time you can drop them off.
Site Coordinators:
Pacific House: Joy Katz, joyakatz@yahoo.com, 203-912-4362, 48 Janes Lane, Stamford. Everything must be dropped off by 3:00 pm on December 24.
New Covenant House: Karen Resnick, kmr925@sbcglobal.net, 203-536-3115, 4 Robinson Drive, Stamford. There will be a bin at the end of Karen’s driveway where you can put the items. Everything must be dropped off on December 24 by 9:30 am.
Franklin Street: Amy Temple, aetemple@optonline.net, 203-496-1309, 17 Talmadge Lane, Stamford. Everything must be dropped off by 3:00 pm on December 24.
ANY DONATION WILL BE MUCH APPRECIATED!
This event is a huge undertaking and would not be possible without your generous participation.
I know this email contains lots of information and details. If you have any questions, feel free to text or call me at 203-496-1309.
All food and wrapped gifts will be dropped off at the homes of the site coordinators and NOT at TBE this year.
Regards,
Amy Temple
