October 19, 2025 • 12 mins
We spoke with Executive Director John Lynch and Business Manager Kim Halmose about the new service in November, The Crossroads Women's Center, and the 33rd Anniversary Dinner on November 2.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Good morning, Thank you for listening to Community Access. I'm
Alison Demurz. My guests this morning are from Carolyn's Place.
I have with me executive director John Lynch and business
manager Kim Helmos. Good morning, Good morning, Mornie Els. Tell
us how did Carolyn's Place come to be so?
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Back in nineteen ninety one, On November fourth, nineteen ninety one,
an infant baby was left abandoned inside Saint John the
Evangel's Church as the church and water Town, the Catholic Church,
abandoned inside the side door. And she's about three hours old.
And the priest at the time, the pastor, Father Robert Russo,
happened to be walking in to turn on some lights
(00:37):
and whatnot, and he here to cry right there inside
the side entrance and long behold there was a baby
girl several hours old, left abandoned. That was before the
safe haven laws. It was a little harder. People didn't
know what to do. And long behold, Father Russo holds
this little girl up and she was taken to the hospital.
She was adopted confidentially soon thereafter. But it really prompted
(00:59):
father to do something more to support women facing unplanned
pregnancy in the community.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
And why do they name her Carolyn at that time?
Speaker 2 (01:07):
So that date is the feast of Saint Charles Barromeo
in the Catholic Church, and certainly Carolyn is the feminine
of Charles, so they chose the name Carolyn Marie to
give to her.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
It's such a beautiful story, and I've been hearing it
all these years. I've actually heard Father So say the
story himself. Since then, you've gotten together, and you have
all of these services and programs that you offer.
Speaker 3 (01:32):
Let's talk about some of those.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
So, yeah, so we have a number of different services
we'd like to offer to those that might be facing
an unplanned pregnancy. Certainly we have pregnancy testing that's free
and available at our office. We have options counseling, and
that is some of our peer ministers that can really
take time to look at different different pathways one could
go in facing an unplanned pregnancy. As a pro life organization,
(01:54):
we certainly encourage and try to empower those that talk
to us about choosing life, either as a a parenting model,
co parenting model, grandparenting model, or an adoption model. And
we certainly can avail various services to support those One
of the things we can do for those many that
do choose to parent is we have two parenting classes.
(02:14):
We call it Earned Why You Learn, and that is
an in person class for those that are pregnant for
the first time taking a new born home for their
first time, especially not for others, but it's also for
fathers and grandparents and support people. And we have a
second Blessings program, which is an online parenting class program
we offer to those that are facing an additional pregnancy
(02:34):
after their first And if.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
They do the program, what kind of things do you
provide to them?
Speaker 3 (02:39):
What are some of.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
Those Yeah, So we call it earned Why You Learn
because as they're learning the skills, they're also getting the
items they're going to need to be able to parent successfully.
And that's everything from a new car seat to a
crib to really a generous allotment of clothing. We give
everyone about twelve hundred diapers, lots of wipes, and all
those little things like medicine dropper and barometer and decsetin
(03:01):
and all those supplies that you may not think about
that are really important to the health and well being
of a newborn.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
I've been fortunate to walk inside several times and all
of the baby clothes, the diapers, the formula. It's just
the best feeling you could ever get when you walk
in there, the sense of peace, the sense of love
that you give. I don't know if everybody could come
in and take a tour of Carolyn's Place, but I
wish they could, or they could see pictures online.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
We certainly have pictures online. We're hoping to do a
program next year where supporters can come on a tour.
I'll be sharing just a few minutes where we have
some expansion going on, and so we'll have a little
bit of a walking tour of all of our programs
that I think will fit nicely into about forty minutes.
So we'll have some available next year going into twenty
twenty six.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
If you'd like to follow along, go to Carolyn'splace dot org.
And that's with the why Carolynsplace dot org. So you
have a new service that's coming out in November. What's
happening there.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
So, after a couple years of planning, we're going to
be opening a new service site which is actually right
across the street from the existing Carolyn's Place. It's going
to be called Crossroads Women's Center and it's really just
a medical based version of some of the services we
have been offering all along, and that includes practitioner administered
(04:18):
pregnancy tests and diagnostic ultra sounds. Now, diagnostic ultra sounds
is something we've offered always through a third party vendor.
We've had a mobile clinic that's come to our site
twice a week in most cases, and we're going to
be transitioning to a model that allows us to offer
it all under our roof, with more hours, better availability
as well.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
So, if you didn't know, Carolyn's Place is located on
Grand View Avenue in Waterbury. So why did you decide
to provide this new service that's coming up in November.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
Well, certainly elaborating upon what we've been doing with a
mobile clinic, we've just determined that there's a lot of
need for this in our community and we weren't really
able to service all the clients we want to with
the hours we were providing, and so our board did
a lot of discernment over the past couple of years
and had looked into, you know, we need more space
for some of our existing programs, and we also wanted
(05:11):
to offer these ultrasound and pregnancy testing services with a
little bit more availability during a typical week.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
Why is it so important for someone to have an
ultrasound when making a pregnancy decision.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
Well, certainly you have to verify that there is a
pregnancy and that that pregnancy is in the right location.
It can be unfortunate sometimes that pregnancies can end up
as a topic pregnancy, and we certainly need to get
them to proper medical care if that is the case.
But you wouldn't know that unless you had an ultrasound done.
Second is we'd want to know the gestational age. Many
(05:47):
individuals may opt to make a pregnancy decision not knowing
how far along they are, and that is a crucial
piece of information they need to know, regardless of what
direction they go in, knowing how far along they are.
And one of the last reasons we want to do
this is because we want to make sure that the
pregnancy is viable. It's unfortunate that about twenty five percent
(06:09):
of pregnancy's end in miscarriage, particularly in the first trimester.
So it's important that if one is making a pregnancy decision,
they understand the status of the current pregnancy.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
And is it true that if a woman does have
an ultrason and they see the baby on the screen,
it will help them to better decide whether or not
to keep the child.
Speaker 4 (06:29):
Yeah, we do.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
We do know that there is a high chance that
if they see the ultrasound image on the ultrasound machine display,
they're really going to take that to heart. And statistically
it's about seventy or eighty percent of those that do
see that image, we'll say yes to life.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
Ah, that's wonderful.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
So you have this amazing dinner that's coming up. It's
your thirty third anniversary dinner. It's taking place Sunday, November
second at La Bella Vista and water. Very well, take
me through the afternoon. What's happening.
Speaker 4 (07:02):
The dinner is being presented by doctor Richard and Carol Gresca,
along with a whole bunch of sponsors that we've gotten.
We are awarding our Life Award to mister Bill O'Brien.
Our Ministry Award is going to Sister Mary Richards of
the Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist, and our Volunteer Service
(07:25):
Award is going to go to two of our volunteers,
Missus Kathy Druga Concepcion and missus Terry Morello. We have
a wonderful menu lined up from the Labella Vista. Of
course they put out their wonderful Vista table for our
cocktail hour, and then it's Caesar salad garnished with house
(07:46):
made garlic croutons, Piana Marianna with hand rolled me balls,
chicken frescae and slice beef filet tips for our main
course and served with mixed vegetables. And then of course
we have their sorted cookies, brownies and Canoli's for dessert.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
I know you're looking at me because you know I
love the food there.
Speaker 4 (08:10):
Food is very good, good, it's wonderful it is and
it served family style, so you get to eat what
you want and how much of what you want. So
that's the menu and what's going on. We also have
a silent auction as part of it, and our auction
team has been working very well on getting a whole
(08:31):
bunch of items ready for it. We have golfing outings
again this year. We have the tickets to the Yankees presented.
We also have museum packages. We have a new one
this year from the American Clock and Watch Museum. We
have Mark Twainhause, the Mystic Seaport and Maritime Museum, New Britain,
Museum of American Art in the Wadsworth Museum of Art.
(08:54):
We have some train tickets to Essex and to Shoreline.
Total Wine and More has given us a party for
twenty as their auction item this year.
Speaker 3 (09:06):
I'll put my ticket in that way for.
Speaker 4 (09:07):
Sure that one goes very well.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
Ye Women and Wine and We.
Speaker 4 (09:13):
Have a slew of restaurant gift cards and grocery store
gift cards. Connecticut Zoo has given us passes. We have
some spa packages from some salons and also gift baskets
made up as a spa experience.
Speaker 3 (09:29):
This year we have something.
Speaker 4 (09:30):
We have handmade quilts. We received three different quilts that
are absolutely beautiful and are good for your babies or
your youngsters. We have power tools for the guys. We
have theater tickets to the Palace and seven Angels. We
have some beautiful necklaces coming in and of course to
(09:52):
go along with wine, we have ice cream. Parlors have
given us a couple of different ice cream parlors have
given us gift baskets with coupons, so we have the
gamut of gifts ready for people.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
It's beautiful. It's such a beautiful afternoon. It's right there
at Labella Vista. You walk in and everyone is just
so happy to be there. You have all of these
beautiful auction items. I know I keep using the word beautiful,
but it is. You just get this feeling when you
walk in. I can't explain it, so you need to
come again. It is on November two at three thirty.
(10:25):
The deadline is October twenty fourth. It's only sixty dollars
a person. You get a five course meal. I don't
know if we're getting pasta fuzzul, but they make the
best positifussle in the world. I just want to go
back for a moment to the Crossroads Women's Center. Tell
us what it looks like inside there, like the construction and.
Speaker 3 (10:45):
What can we look forward to.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
That's a great question. I'm very excited now because we're
going on the final weeks of the construction and the
move on. We started back at the end of July
and a doctor's former doctor's office that had been last
occupied in twenty twelve, and a lot of wallpaper and whatnot,
and just through some of the people that have stepped
up to the play at our organization, some contractors, engineers, architects.
(11:12):
We've transformed this in it to a very beautiful, modern,
state of the art, inviting and warm center that is
going to have, like I said, space for the ultrasound equipment,
space for counseling areas, beautiful bathrooms and just a welcoming
waiting room. So we're very excited to open its doors
(11:33):
in about a month to the public.
Speaker 1 (11:35):
And all of this couldn't happen without donations and gams heres,
So please go to Carolyn'splace dot org make a donation again,
come to this dinner. The speakers who get up and
speak are so inspirational.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
Yeah, certainly, and we always give our awordies an opportunity
to share about their experience with the organization or just
in the pro life movement in general.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
It's beautiful, it's a beautiful day, and I'm speaking with
executive director from Carolyn's Place, John Lynch and Kim Helmos,
business manager. The event is the thirty third anniversary dinner
on Sunday, November two at three point thirty at Labella
Vista in Waterbury. It's a five course meal. Please sign
up by October twenty fourth so they have a headcount.
(12:19):
It's only sixty dollars of person and it goes to
support this amazing organization. And I'm going to be there.
I'm going to be the EMC or I don't know what,
we call me the host.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
Or something or the MC did a great job, Lasher.
We love having you and we can't wait to have
you back.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
Thank you so much for letting me be a part
of this beautiful ministry that you have. It's so great.
I'm Allison de Merse. Thank you for listening to Community
Access
Good morning, Thank you for listening to Community Access. I'm
Alison Demurz. My guests this morning are from Carolyn's Place.
I have with me executive director John Lynch and business
manager Kim Helmos. Good morning, Good morning, Mornie Els. Tell
us how did Carolyn's Place come to be so?
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Back in nineteen ninety one, On November fourth, nineteen ninety one,
an infant baby was left abandoned inside Saint John the
Evangel's Church as the church and water Town, the Catholic Church,
abandoned inside the side door. And she's about three hours old.
And the priest at the time, the pastor, Father Robert Russo,
happened to be walking in to turn on some lights
(00:37):
and whatnot, and he here to cry right there inside
the side entrance and long behold there was a baby
girl several hours old, left abandoned. That was before the
safe haven laws. It was a little harder. People didn't
know what to do. And long behold, Father Russo holds
this little girl up and she was taken to the hospital.
She was adopted confidentially soon thereafter. But it really prompted
(00:59):
father to do something more to support women facing unplanned
pregnancy in the community.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
And why do they name her Carolyn at that time?
Speaker 2 (01:07):
So that date is the feast of Saint Charles Barromeo
in the Catholic Church, and certainly Carolyn is the feminine
of Charles, so they chose the name Carolyn Marie to
give to her.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
It's such a beautiful story, and I've been hearing it
all these years. I've actually heard Father So say the
story himself. Since then, you've gotten together, and you have
all of these services and programs that you offer.
Speaker 3 (01:32):
Let's talk about some of those.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
So, yeah, so we have a number of different services
we'd like to offer to those that might be facing
an unplanned pregnancy. Certainly we have pregnancy testing that's free
and available at our office. We have options counseling, and
that is some of our peer ministers that can really
take time to look at different different pathways one could
go in facing an unplanned pregnancy. As a pro life organization,
(01:54):
we certainly encourage and try to empower those that talk
to us about choosing life, either as a a parenting model,
co parenting model, grandparenting model, or an adoption model. And
we certainly can avail various services to support those One
of the things we can do for those many that
do choose to parent is we have two parenting classes.
(02:14):
We call it Earned Why You Learn, and that is
an in person class for those that are pregnant for
the first time taking a new born home for their
first time, especially not for others, but it's also for
fathers and grandparents and support people. And we have a
second Blessings program, which is an online parenting class program
we offer to those that are facing an additional pregnancy
(02:34):
after their first And if.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
They do the program, what kind of things do you
provide to them?
Speaker 3 (02:39):
What are some of.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
Those Yeah, So we call it earned Why You Learn
because as they're learning the skills, they're also getting the
items they're going to need to be able to parent successfully.
And that's everything from a new car seat to a
crib to really a generous allotment of clothing. We give
everyone about twelve hundred diapers, lots of wipes, and all
those little things like medicine dropper and barometer and decsetin
(03:01):
and all those supplies that you may not think about
that are really important to the health and well being
of a newborn.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
I've been fortunate to walk inside several times and all
of the baby clothes, the diapers, the formula. It's just
the best feeling you could ever get when you walk
in there, the sense of peace, the sense of love
that you give. I don't know if everybody could come
in and take a tour of Carolyn's Place, but I
wish they could, or they could see pictures online.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
We certainly have pictures online. We're hoping to do a
program next year where supporters can come on a tour.
I'll be sharing just a few minutes where we have
some expansion going on, and so we'll have a little
bit of a walking tour of all of our programs
that I think will fit nicely into about forty minutes.
So we'll have some available next year going into twenty
twenty six.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
If you'd like to follow along, go to Carolyn'splace dot org.
And that's with the why Carolynsplace dot org. So you
have a new service that's coming out in November. What's
happening there.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
So, after a couple years of planning, we're going to
be opening a new service site which is actually right
across the street from the existing Carolyn's Place. It's going
to be called Crossroads Women's Center and it's really just
a medical based version of some of the services we
have been offering all along, and that includes practitioner administered
(04:18):
pregnancy tests and diagnostic ultra sounds. Now, diagnostic ultra sounds
is something we've offered always through a third party vendor.
We've had a mobile clinic that's come to our site
twice a week in most cases, and we're going to
be transitioning to a model that allows us to offer
it all under our roof, with more hours, better availability
as well.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
So, if you didn't know, Carolyn's Place is located on
Grand View Avenue in Waterbury. So why did you decide
to provide this new service that's coming up in November.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
Well, certainly elaborating upon what we've been doing with a
mobile clinic, we've just determined that there's a lot of
need for this in our community and we weren't really
able to service all the clients we want to with
the hours we were providing, and so our board did
a lot of discernment over the past couple of years
and had looked into, you know, we need more space
for some of our existing programs, and we also wanted
(05:11):
to offer these ultrasound and pregnancy testing services with a
little bit more availability during a typical week.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
Why is it so important for someone to have an
ultrasound when making a pregnancy decision.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
Well, certainly you have to verify that there is a
pregnancy and that that pregnancy is in the right location.
It can be unfortunate sometimes that pregnancies can end up
as a topic pregnancy, and we certainly need to get
them to proper medical care if that is the case.
But you wouldn't know that unless you had an ultrasound done.
Second is we'd want to know the gestational age. Many
(05:47):
individuals may opt to make a pregnancy decision not knowing
how far along they are, and that is a crucial
piece of information they need to know, regardless of what
direction they go in, knowing how far along they are.
And one of the last reasons we want to do
this is because we want to make sure that the
pregnancy is viable. It's unfortunate that about twenty five percent
(06:09):
of pregnancy's end in miscarriage, particularly in the first trimester.
So it's important that if one is making a pregnancy decision,
they understand the status of the current pregnancy.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
And is it true that if a woman does have
an ultrason and they see the baby on the screen,
it will help them to better decide whether or not
to keep the child.
Speaker 4 (06:29):
Yeah, we do.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
We do know that there is a high chance that
if they see the ultrasound image on the ultrasound machine display,
they're really going to take that to heart. And statistically
it's about seventy or eighty percent of those that do
see that image, we'll say yes to life.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
Ah, that's wonderful.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
So you have this amazing dinner that's coming up. It's
your thirty third anniversary dinner. It's taking place Sunday, November
second at La Bella Vista and water. Very well, take
me through the afternoon. What's happening.
Speaker 4 (07:02):
The dinner is being presented by doctor Richard and Carol Gresca,
along with a whole bunch of sponsors that we've gotten.
We are awarding our Life Award to mister Bill O'Brien.
Our Ministry Award is going to Sister Mary Richards of
the Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist, and our Volunteer Service
(07:25):
Award is going to go to two of our volunteers,
Missus Kathy Druga Concepcion and missus Terry Morello. We have
a wonderful menu lined up from the Labella Vista. Of
course they put out their wonderful Vista table for our
cocktail hour, and then it's Caesar salad garnished with house
(07:46):
made garlic croutons, Piana Marianna with hand rolled me balls,
chicken frescae and slice beef filet tips for our main
course and served with mixed vegetables. And then of course
we have their sorted cookies, brownies and Canoli's for dessert.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
I know you're looking at me because you know I
love the food there.
Speaker 4 (08:10):
Food is very good, good, it's wonderful it is and
it served family style, so you get to eat what
you want and how much of what you want. So
that's the menu and what's going on. We also have
a silent auction as part of it, and our auction
team has been working very well on getting a whole
(08:31):
bunch of items ready for it. We have golfing outings
again this year. We have the tickets to the Yankees presented.
We also have museum packages. We have a new one
this year from the American Clock and Watch Museum. We
have Mark Twainhause, the Mystic Seaport and Maritime Museum, New Britain,
Museum of American Art in the Wadsworth Museum of Art.
(08:54):
We have some train tickets to Essex and to Shoreline.
Total Wine and More has given us a party for
twenty as their auction item this year.
Speaker 3 (09:06):
I'll put my ticket in that way for.
Speaker 4 (09:07):
Sure that one goes very well.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
Ye Women and Wine and We.
Speaker 4 (09:13):
Have a slew of restaurant gift cards and grocery store
gift cards. Connecticut Zoo has given us passes. We have
some spa packages from some salons and also gift baskets
made up as a spa experience.
Speaker 3 (09:29):
This year we have something.
Speaker 4 (09:30):
We have handmade quilts. We received three different quilts that
are absolutely beautiful and are good for your babies or
your youngsters. We have power tools for the guys. We
have theater tickets to the Palace and seven Angels. We
have some beautiful necklaces coming in and of course to
(09:52):
go along with wine, we have ice cream. Parlors have
given us a couple of different ice cream parlors have
given us gift baskets with coupons, so we have the
gamut of gifts ready for people.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
It's beautiful. It's such a beautiful afternoon. It's right there
at Labella Vista. You walk in and everyone is just
so happy to be there. You have all of these
beautiful auction items. I know I keep using the word beautiful,
but it is. You just get this feeling when you
walk in. I can't explain it, so you need to
come again. It is on November two at three thirty.
(10:25):
The deadline is October twenty fourth. It's only sixty dollars
a person. You get a five course meal. I don't
know if we're getting pasta fuzzul, but they make the
best positifussle in the world. I just want to go
back for a moment to the Crossroads Women's Center. Tell
us what it looks like inside there, like the construction and.
Speaker 3 (10:45):
What can we look forward to.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
That's a great question. I'm very excited now because we're
going on the final weeks of the construction and the
move on. We started back at the end of July
and a doctor's former doctor's office that had been last
occupied in twenty twelve, and a lot of wallpaper and whatnot,
and just through some of the people that have stepped
up to the play at our organization, some contractors, engineers, architects.
(11:12):
We've transformed this in it to a very beautiful, modern,
state of the art, inviting and warm center that is
going to have, like I said, space for the ultrasound equipment,
space for counseling areas, beautiful bathrooms and just a welcoming
waiting room. So we're very excited to open its doors
(11:33):
in about a month to the public.
Speaker 1 (11:35):
And all of this couldn't happen without donations and gams heres,
So please go to Carolyn'splace dot org make a donation again,
come to this dinner. The speakers who get up and
speak are so inspirational.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
Yeah, certainly, and we always give our awordies an opportunity
to share about their experience with the organization or just
in the pro life movement in general.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
It's beautiful, it's a beautiful day, and I'm speaking with
executive director from Carolyn's Place, John Lynch and Kim Helmos,
business manager. The event is the thirty third anniversary dinner
on Sunday, November two at three point thirty at Labella
Vista in Waterbury. It's a five course meal. Please sign
up by October twenty fourth so they have a headcount.
(12:19):
It's only sixty dollars of person and it goes to
support this amazing organization. And I'm going to be there.
I'm going to be the EMC or I don't know what,
we call me the host.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
Or something or the MC did a great job, Lasher.
We love having you and we can't wait to have
you back.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
Thank you so much for letting me be a part
of this beautiful ministry that you have. It's so great.
I'm Allison de Merse. Thank you for listening to Community
Access
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