Location: Saint Elizabeth’s House and Friendship Center, South Park Inn, and Cornerstone Soup Kitchen
Week Before the Event:
Happy Saturday! We hope everyone is having an amazing weekend. Our weekend has been going really well! This weekend was filled with lots of excitement and lots of good news across the board. The beginning of our week consisted of a few very productive meetings and some great connections. We are continuing our planning for our events on June 5th. As the events get closer we will keep you updated with more information about the details and how to sign up/join us for them!
This weekend was just a shelter run for us with donations from both Dunkin Donuts and Panera Bread. By the time we divided up all of our donations, we were giving each shelter the most we have ever handed out on any given Saturday morning; which is very exciting. We were fortunate enough to gather a total of 186 wrapped items from Dunkin, which the total count including 29 individually packaged munchkin bags of 8 each was 389. From Panera Bread, we received 92 individually wrapped items and 2 big full boxes of bread. With all of these items, we were able to give each of our three locations 4 trays of individually wrapped items and a box of bread, as the boxes of bread were also divided for all three locations.
We will continue to expand both our places of donations and also where we collect our donations from. We are also looking for people to help us collect donations from the places donating/donating products to us as well.
Our Friday night ended around 1 a.m. that morning including having Ashlei’s car loaded up with everything for the drop off’s.
Day of the Event:
Saturday morning started with our typical shelter run but we had a special visitor: Abigail’s granddaughter Alex join us! So as per usual, Saturday started with breakfast and coffee then it was time to get on the road and head to our first drop off which was the Cornerstone Soup Kitchen, located in Vernon. Typically we call on our way because we usually need more than 2 people to bring everything inside. When we got there, a lovely young lady brought over a carriage outside and we loaded everything we had for them into there, and bid a farewell by saying we will be back next weekend.
After, we headed off to our next location which is the South Park Inn, located in Hartford. The drive to South Park Inn was quick and full of conversation. By the time we got to South Park Inn, we had called ahead again and then let them know we were there. They met us outside with a cart as well. Across from the South Park Inn is Bernard Park and there we noticed there was a food truck parked, as well as some people handing out care packages this weekend. Seeing others participating in giving back to the community like us always fills our hearts with warmth, because whether they’re following in our footsteps or they started before we did, we love seeing the community come together and support one another.
From there we headed to St. Elizabeth’s House and Friendship Center, where the gate was open so we drove in and brought the goodies to the front door for them. When walking up to the door, we walked by the patio and a few women were sitting outside talking and saw all of the treats we were carrying and came in the door to check everything out after, as they were looking forward to the treats. It’s always nice to see the smiles we can bring to people’s faces when we do this each weekend.
This weekend was very hot so don’t forget to drink lots of water and if you have an extra bottle on you, then give it to someone who needs it. Heatwaves like this are hard but they’re even harder for people who have no access to cool air so just remember that as the days pass.
Till Next time (05/29/21),
Stay Safe and Stay H.O.P.E.F.U.L.
From Dunkin So Many goodies, Thank you From Panera 
1 of the boxes of bread Ashlei’s fully packed car- trunk the back seat
