STAMFORD—New Covenant Center held their first-ever combination live fundraiser and live stream event. Over $155,000 was raised, so far, at the 17th Annual Celebrity Soiree event at Woodway Country Club in Darien.
Married Fairfield County couple Hannah Storm of ESPN and Dan Hicks of NBC Sports entertained the crowd with sports stories and New Covenant Center Advisory Council member Jose Rivera was awarded the 6th Annual Founder’s Award. The most moving moment of the evening was 13-year-old Katie Pineda’s reading of her mother Norma’s appreciation of the groceries and other services she receives from New Covenant Center.
“As we look ahead, there is much work to be done. First, we must get our guests back inside the center so they can eat their meals in a dignified environment, while resuming other services such as showers, haircuts, job skills training and immigration counseling. Feeding the hungry in our soup kitchen/café and food pantry is our core mission, but providing a safe environment and long-term solutions and self-sufficiency for our guests is important,” states Director John Gutman.
New Covenant Center has been operating with mostly 800 volunteers staying at home, but still
providing meals and sandwiches to guests and other area non-profits.
The mission of New Covenant Center is to provide a nutritious meal to all those who are hungry. This is accomplished from their 8,000 sq. ft. facility located at 174 Richmond Hill in Stamford. The facility includes an efficient and modern kitchen, a welcoming dining area, expanded food storage area and refrigeration, a spacious food pantry area and additional space for other services. New Covenant Center serves almost 5,000 unduplicated people annually. Stamford’s one and only soup kitchen serves over 600,000 each year, providing 200,000 meals to soup kitchen/café guests (2x per day and to several other non-profit agencies’ clients). An additional 400,000 meals are served from the food pantry, providing disadvantaged families with groceries, meat, vegetables and produce.
Founded 41 years ago, New Covenant Center is an inter-faith project of Catholic Charities of Fairfield County, serving the homeless, elderly, disabled, working poor, and children. No one is turned away. There are no requirements to enter the New Covenant Center doors, except a mutual exchange of respect and dignity.
(For more information on the Celebrity Soiree and to view the event video in its entirety, please go to www.event.gives/nccsoiree2021 or contact Leisa Hinds Simpson at [email protected]. To learn more about the services provided by New Covenant Center visit their webpage at www.newcovenantcenter.org.)