September 27, 2024 • 12 mins
We spoke with the Community Dining Room Fundraising Coordinator Patrick Hackett about the Community Dining Room and the impact they make in Connecticut.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thank you for listening to Community Access. I guess this
morning as Patrick Hackett, fundraising coordinator of the Community Dining Room.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Good morning, good morning, thank you so much for having
me so happy.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
You could make it. What is the mission of the
Community Dining Room.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Our mission is pretty simple, but it's a big one.
We want to see a well nourished community.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
And how did it all begin?
Speaker 2 (00:25):
It began with just a few people serving soup out
of a cellar in nineteen eighty five. We're celebrating our
fortieth anniversary next year.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
Wow. And where are you located?
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Our location is in Branford. We're right off the Branford
Green of thirty Harrison Ave. Most of our service are
out of our main location, but we also provide services
in eastn North Branford and Guildford as well.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
And why did all of this start?
Speaker 2 (00:52):
All of this started because sadly, there's a need. Food
and security is a huge problem in Connecticut. Eight people
in Connecticut has experienced some sort of food in security.
We talk a lot about feeding our neighbors in need,
and that's not just an expression. It literally is your
neighbors and you never know who it's going to be.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
That's right any walk of life. It can happen to people.
Never think it may happen to them, but.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
It can absolutely. We see people who come in for
lunch on their lunch breaks from their jobs. We have
a lot of people who you know, are fully employed
and are just asset limited and their income is limited.
This helps them. If you're coming in here, an average
cost of a meal is almost four dollars in the
state of Connecticut. If you're getting a meal here five
(01:39):
times a week, that's twenty dollars you can save to
put gas in your car to make sure you can
keep go to work.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
And that's the sad point that some people actually have
to decide between gas and food or other things rent
and food, et cetera.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Yes, it's it's very sad. During the summer, we see
a lot of children because they're getting their meals at school,
and if they're not getting their meals at school, they
need to turn to a service like ours. And it's
wonderful to see them in there. At the same time,
it can be difficult to see. We're happy they're in
there getting a meal, and a lot of times we
try to be more than just a meal as well.
(02:14):
We try to provide activities for the kids, books, things
like that.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
And you mentioned one in eight and for children it's
actually one in six. For food and security.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Yeah, you know your stats. It's really impassive.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
You know, we serve fifty six thousand meals projected for
twenty twenty four and a lot of those go to children.
It's great to see that they're getting food, they're getting nutrition,
and our meals are all prepared by volunteers. We have
four hundred rotating volunteers that cook these meals and help
make sure that children and everyone in the community are
(02:48):
getting the right nourishment.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
So let's go over everything that you do. You're located
in Branford, as you said, yep, and you have daily
hot meals, family night meals, take Loek out Dinner, Homebound
delivery program. Let's talk about what you guys do on
a daily basis to serve the community.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
So on a daily basis, on a day, we're going
to have hot launch out of our location at thirty
Harrison Apps. That's going to be from twelve to one pm.
If you don't want to sit and eat, you can
also take a meal to go. We have our Family
Night meals Tuesday nights are here in Branford. Those will
be from five to six thirty, with a craft starting
for the family at a five thirty. If you don't
(03:31):
have a meal, this is a safe place for children
and families to come together to have a meal. If
you don't have a family, you're just an individual, we
have takeout meals for you there. You can also register
for additional takeout meals On Tuesday Wednesday. Starting on October second,
we will be in East Haven at the Senior Center
that's ninety one Taylor Have and we'll be doing our
(03:53):
family night meal there again again from five until six thirty.
And we really want to see families out there having
fun with us, having a craft, having a meal in
a respectful environment.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
So tell me about your volunteers.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
I cannot speak highly enough of our volunteers. It's a
family affair here, you know, with parental permission. We have
children volunteering here as well. They come with their family
and they're out there cooking and serving. It's so important,
which really it makes how great it cooks. Our volunteers
(04:28):
are none of these are professional chefs. They might have
some kitchen experience, but they throw down in the kitchen.
It's always great coming in and smelling what is cooking.
And I eat here every single day. The food is fantastic.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
Oh that's amazing. So tell me about some of the
people who have benefited. What were their stories.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
Like, one of the big things that we talk about
the community dining room is being more than just a meal.
Of course, you want to come in get a hot meal,
something delicious to eat, that's great, but we're all also
there for individuals. We provide all sorts of referrals to
other resources that they can use. One of the ones
that really speaks to my heart is an individual's home
(05:11):
was condemned. They were coming here to eat for a
really long time and they just lost track of the
maintenance of their home. Our volunteer coordinator and the team
here worked tirelessly outside of work hours to help get
his house, help get their house back up and running.
(05:33):
It took months. It's really just an amazing show of
why when we say more than just a meal, it's
not just a tagline, it's truly our mission. And there
was a dog involved in taking care of the dog
for the individual while they were in the hospital so
they could come home to their home and their pet.
(05:55):
It's so big to provide that community.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
For people so they become like family.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
They become like family. If one of our clients is
not here, we know where to try and find them,
and we're looking out and we're reaching out to make
sure that they're okay. It's important to care and it's
important to treat these people with respect. We want to
know that we're here for them and doing the best
that we can to support them. It's the ones that
(06:25):
really speak to me are sometimes the hardest ones. When
it's summertime and we see the families coming in here,
they're so happy to be able to get that meal,
and there's a lot of kids that come through being
able to compliment the kid on their shirt or their sneakers,
and while they're enjoying a meal and knowing that people
(06:46):
here appreciate them. The summer was really tough, and now
as we're headed into the holiday season, it's hard as well. Thankfully,
a lot of people are very charitable this time of year,
but it helps us be that that security blanket for
people when they might not be able to afford food,
or they might be deciding between food or oil and
(07:08):
heat and so.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
They feel good when they go home, and then that
makes them want to come back.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
They feel good when they go home, they feel good
when they're here, and just a little more energy to
take on the world. It's a tough place out there
for a lot of our neighbors in need, and knowing
that having a place like this where they can come,
especially as the weather gets colder, to get out of
the cold, to get out of the elements, and to
(07:34):
be cared for and know that we're here with a
respectful meal and a delicious meal. Just today we had
a eggplant parmesan and it was out of this world
restaurant quality, I believe it.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
That's awesome. What happens if there's a storm or power outage?
What do they do about eating?
Speaker 2 (07:54):
So we try to be here as much as we can.
There will be times when we can only do takeout service,
but if you follow our website and our Facebook, we
try and let people know as far in advance as
we can. We do have to watch out for the
safety of ourselves and our volunteers. If we know a
storm is coming, There'll be a lot of times that
we'll pack extra takehold meals. We pack extra takehold meals
(08:17):
for our homebound delivery service for holidays when we know
we won't be able to provide the service, so they
have extra meals while they're home bound and they're able
to eat.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
What about sponsors, I'm sure you could use sponsors.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
We can always use sponsors. Our twenty twenty five season
is coming up. There'll be information on Community Dining Room
dot org on what you can do to help sponsor us.
We have events. We just got done with our Duly
Piano event. It was an amazing success, so close to
being a sellout crowd. Next time we're gonna sell it out.
(08:51):
But yeah, sponsorship dollars go a long way. It allows
us to throw these events to try and bring in
more revenue. And it's always good to know that the
community has our back as well.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
And people can make donations or they can have a
food drive.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
Yes, people can make donations to us. You can donate
right there on the website. There's our big heart logo
that you can click to donate. We're making that form
as easy as possible. We love when you have food drives.
We had an amazing food drive by Colbell Banker here
in Branford. They gave us almost five hundred pounds of food.
Every little bit helps. When you think about meal prep
(09:28):
that you're doing through your family, it's you know, it's
a decent amount. When you add that to forty to
eighty meals every single day, you know we need a
case of pasta versus a couple boxes. So every bit
helps us.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
And I noticed your menu online. You have some really
neat meals. Maybe share with us some of the foods
that you cook for people.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
We have just amazing creative chefs that go in there.
We do our meals monthly, and believe it or not,
you'll see different people come different days depending on what's
on the menu. My personal favorite thing that we have
pretty frequently is ham and scallop potatoes. To me, that
was always such a fancy holiday meal, and we get it,
(10:12):
you know, once or twice a month, and it's absolutely delicious.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
If someone felt ashamed, or maybe their pride got in
the way, what advice would you offer to them to
come to this place?
Speaker 2 (10:22):
There is no reason to be ashamed. We don't ask
questions when you come in here for a hot meal.
We just give you a hot meal and a place
to sit and enjoy it in a nice relaxing atmosphere.
There's coffee, there's dessert. We want you to be here
because we want to see a well nourished community. We
want to see you be able to go out there
(10:43):
and have the energy to take on the day, take
on whatever the world is throwing at you. And if
you do feel a little bit embarrassed, you can take
it to go. You can have it in the privacy
of wherever you are. We don't make judgments here.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
Nice. I'm speaking with Trick Hackett, fundraising coordinator for the
Community Dining Room. You can go to the Community Diningroom
dot org and I'm assuming on social media as well.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
Yeah, Community Dining Room six four five on Facebook and Instagram.
We're also trying to reach out there on LinkedIn as well,
and that is just Community Dining Room on LinkedIn. We
would love to get some more followers. I try to
post engaging content and you can find out about all
our events, all of our meals, everything we have going
(11:31):
on there on our social media accounts or on our website.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
Well, thank you so much for all you do in
the Branford community the surrounding areas, and we'll definitely have
you back in a couple more months to talk about
other events that will be coming up.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
We have a gingerbread decorating contest coming up in December
and Harbor Lights in Branford. It's going to be amazing, wonderful.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
Thank you again for all you do to serve the community.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
Oh it's not me, it's all of our wonderful volunteers.
Thank you so much for having me
Thank you for listening to Community Access. I guess this
morning as Patrick Hackett, fundraising coordinator of the Community Dining Room.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Good morning, good morning, thank you so much for having
me so happy.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
You could make it. What is the mission of the
Community Dining Room.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Our mission is pretty simple, but it's a big one.
We want to see a well nourished community.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
And how did it all begin?
Speaker 2 (00:25):
It began with just a few people serving soup out
of a cellar in nineteen eighty five. We're celebrating our
fortieth anniversary next year.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
Wow. And where are you located?
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Our location is in Branford. We're right off the Branford
Green of thirty Harrison Ave. Most of our service are
out of our main location, but we also provide services
in eastn North Branford and Guildford as well.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
And why did all of this start?
Speaker 2 (00:52):
All of this started because sadly, there's a need. Food
and security is a huge problem in Connecticut. Eight people
in Connecticut has experienced some sort of food in security.
We talk a lot about feeding our neighbors in need,
and that's not just an expression. It literally is your
neighbors and you never know who it's going to be.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
That's right any walk of life. It can happen to people.
Never think it may happen to them, but.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
It can absolutely. We see people who come in for
lunch on their lunch breaks from their jobs. We have
a lot of people who you know, are fully employed
and are just asset limited and their income is limited.
This helps them. If you're coming in here, an average
cost of a meal is almost four dollars in the
state of Connecticut. If you're getting a meal here five
(01:39):
times a week, that's twenty dollars you can save to
put gas in your car to make sure you can
keep go to work.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
And that's the sad point that some people actually have
to decide between gas and food or other things rent
and food, et cetera.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Yes, it's it's very sad. During the summer, we see
a lot of children because they're getting their meals at school,
and if they're not getting their meals at school, they
need to turn to a service like ours. And it's
wonderful to see them in there. At the same time,
it can be difficult to see. We're happy they're in
there getting a meal, and a lot of times we
try to be more than just a meal as well.
(02:14):
We try to provide activities for the kids, books, things
like that.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
And you mentioned one in eight and for children it's
actually one in six. For food and security.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Yeah, you know your stats. It's really impassive.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
You know, we serve fifty six thousand meals projected for
twenty twenty four and a lot of those go to children.
It's great to see that they're getting food, they're getting nutrition,
and our meals are all prepared by volunteers. We have
four hundred rotating volunteers that cook these meals and help
make sure that children and everyone in the community are
(02:48):
getting the right nourishment.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
So let's go over everything that you do. You're located
in Branford, as you said, yep, and you have daily
hot meals, family night meals, take Loek out Dinner, Homebound
delivery program. Let's talk about what you guys do on
a daily basis to serve the community.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
So on a daily basis, on a day, we're going
to have hot launch out of our location at thirty
Harrison Apps. That's going to be from twelve to one pm.
If you don't want to sit and eat, you can
also take a meal to go. We have our Family
Night meals Tuesday nights are here in Branford. Those will
be from five to six thirty, with a craft starting
for the family at a five thirty. If you don't
(03:31):
have a meal, this is a safe place for children
and families to come together to have a meal. If
you don't have a family, you're just an individual, we
have takeout meals for you there. You can also register
for additional takeout meals On Tuesday Wednesday. Starting on October second,
we will be in East Haven at the Senior Center
that's ninety one Taylor Have and we'll be doing our
(03:53):
family night meal there again again from five until six thirty.
And we really want to see families out there having
fun with us, having a craft, having a meal in
a respectful environment.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
So tell me about your volunteers.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
I cannot speak highly enough of our volunteers. It's a
family affair here, you know, with parental permission. We have
children volunteering here as well. They come with their family
and they're out there cooking and serving. It's so important,
which really it makes how great it cooks. Our volunteers
(04:28):
are none of these are professional chefs. They might have
some kitchen experience, but they throw down in the kitchen.
It's always great coming in and smelling what is cooking.
And I eat here every single day. The food is fantastic.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
Oh that's amazing. So tell me about some of the
people who have benefited. What were their stories.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
Like, one of the big things that we talk about
the community dining room is being more than just a meal.
Of course, you want to come in get a hot meal,
something delicious to eat, that's great, but we're all also
there for individuals. We provide all sorts of referrals to
other resources that they can use. One of the ones
that really speaks to my heart is an individual's home
(05:11):
was condemned. They were coming here to eat for a
really long time and they just lost track of the
maintenance of their home. Our volunteer coordinator and the team
here worked tirelessly outside of work hours to help get
his house, help get their house back up and running.
(05:33):
It took months. It's really just an amazing show of
why when we say more than just a meal, it's
not just a tagline, it's truly our mission. And there
was a dog involved in taking care of the dog
for the individual while they were in the hospital so
they could come home to their home and their pet.
(05:55):
It's so big to provide that community.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
For people so they become like family.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
They become like family. If one of our clients is
not here, we know where to try and find them,
and we're looking out and we're reaching out to make
sure that they're okay. It's important to care and it's
important to treat these people with respect. We want to
know that we're here for them and doing the best
that we can to support them. It's the ones that
(06:25):
really speak to me are sometimes the hardest ones. When
it's summertime and we see the families coming in here,
they're so happy to be able to get that meal,
and there's a lot of kids that come through being
able to compliment the kid on their shirt or their sneakers,
and while they're enjoying a meal and knowing that people
(06:46):
here appreciate them. The summer was really tough, and now
as we're headed into the holiday season, it's hard as well. Thankfully,
a lot of people are very charitable this time of year,
but it helps us be that that security blanket for
people when they might not be able to afford food,
or they might be deciding between food or oil and
(07:08):
heat and so.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
They feel good when they go home, and then that
makes them want to come back.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
They feel good when they go home, they feel good
when they're here, and just a little more energy to
take on the world. It's a tough place out there
for a lot of our neighbors in need, and knowing
that having a place like this where they can come,
especially as the weather gets colder, to get out of
the cold, to get out of the elements, and to
(07:34):
be cared for and know that we're here with a
respectful meal and a delicious meal. Just today we had
a eggplant parmesan and it was out of this world
restaurant quality, I believe it.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
That's awesome. What happens if there's a storm or power outage?
What do they do about eating?
Speaker 2 (07:54):
So we try to be here as much as we can.
There will be times when we can only do takeout service,
but if you follow our website and our Facebook, we
try and let people know as far in advance as
we can. We do have to watch out for the
safety of ourselves and our volunteers. If we know a
storm is coming, There'll be a lot of times that
we'll pack extra takehold meals. We pack extra takehold meals
(08:17):
for our homebound delivery service for holidays when we know
we won't be able to provide the service, so they
have extra meals while they're home bound and they're able
to eat.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
What about sponsors, I'm sure you could use sponsors.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
We can always use sponsors. Our twenty twenty five season
is coming up. There'll be information on Community Dining Room
dot org on what you can do to help sponsor us.
We have events. We just got done with our Duly
Piano event. It was an amazing success, so close to
being a sellout crowd. Next time we're gonna sell it out.
(08:51):
But yeah, sponsorship dollars go a long way. It allows
us to throw these events to try and bring in
more revenue. And it's always good to know that the
community has our back as well.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
And people can make donations or they can have a
food drive.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
Yes, people can make donations to us. You can donate
right there on the website. There's our big heart logo
that you can click to donate. We're making that form
as easy as possible. We love when you have food drives.
We had an amazing food drive by Colbell Banker here
in Branford. They gave us almost five hundred pounds of food.
Every little bit helps. When you think about meal prep
(09:28):
that you're doing through your family, it's you know, it's
a decent amount. When you add that to forty to
eighty meals every single day, you know we need a
case of pasta versus a couple boxes. So every bit
helps us.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
And I noticed your menu online. You have some really
neat meals. Maybe share with us some of the foods
that you cook for people.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
We have just amazing creative chefs that go in there.
We do our meals monthly, and believe it or not,
you'll see different people come different days depending on what's
on the menu. My personal favorite thing that we have
pretty frequently is ham and scallop potatoes. To me, that
was always such a fancy holiday meal, and we get it,
(10:12):
you know, once or twice a month, and it's absolutely delicious.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
If someone felt ashamed, or maybe their pride got in
the way, what advice would you offer to them to
come to this place?
Speaker 2 (10:22):
There is no reason to be ashamed. We don't ask
questions when you come in here for a hot meal.
We just give you a hot meal and a place
to sit and enjoy it in a nice relaxing atmosphere.
There's coffee, there's dessert. We want you to be here
because we want to see a well nourished community. We
want to see you be able to go out there
(10:43):
and have the energy to take on the day, take
on whatever the world is throwing at you. And if
you do feel a little bit embarrassed, you can take
it to go. You can have it in the privacy
of wherever you are. We don't make judgments here.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
Nice. I'm speaking with Trick Hackett, fundraising coordinator for the
Community Dining Room. You can go to the Community Diningroom
dot org and I'm assuming on social media as well.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
Yeah, Community Dining Room six four five on Facebook and Instagram.
We're also trying to reach out there on LinkedIn as well,
and that is just Community Dining Room on LinkedIn. We
would love to get some more followers. I try to
post engaging content and you can find out about all
our events, all of our meals, everything we have going
(11:31):
on there on our social media accounts or on our website.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
Well, thank you so much for all you do in
the Branford community the surrounding areas, and we'll definitely have
you back in a couple more months to talk about
other events that will be coming up.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
We have a gingerbread decorating contest coming up in December
and Harbor Lights in Branford. It's going to be amazing, wonderful.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
Thank you again for all you do to serve the community.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
Oh it's not me, it's all of our wonderful volunteers.
Thank you so much for having me
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