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CCA Holds Breakfast for (Its) Champions

NEW HAVEN, CT (July 3, 2007) --A Bethany church, a New Haven business and two individuals recently were recognized for their support Christian Community Action and its mission of service to families that are homeless or in crisis in New Haven.

Presented with the ecumenical social service agency's highest honor, its Pillar of the Community Award, were, left to right, Dennis Brown of Milford, Karen Donnelly, representing First Church of Christ, Congregational in Bethany; Kim Chernecky, founder and president of Compassionate Community Services, Inc., also of Bethany and Melissa Chambrelli, human resources manager, representing Proliance International.

Brown and Chernecky were honored for their service to CCA's Hillside Family Shelter program, where, since 1988, they have provided holiday gift baskets, toys and clothing to families and household items for the shelter's apartments. First Church was honored for its support of CCA's Food Pantry Program, to which they have made donations of groceries three or four times a month for more than 15 years. For its part, Proliance was recognized for its employees' support through holiday gifts, the donation of household items and volunteer service to CCA's Stepping Stone Transitional Housing Program. They also provide turkeys and food baskets to the Stepping Stone families at Thanksgiving.

The four honorees were presented their awards at CCA's Fifth Annual Donor / Volunteer Recognition ceremony, held at Spring Glen Church in Hamden.

Follow this link for the rest of the press release and associated photos..

CCA recently was one of 19 programs in Connecticut serving people who are homeless that were awarded grants from The Citizens Bank Foundation to help offset higher-than-expected heating oil prices from last winter.  The grants reflected not only the bank’s own contribution of $25,000, but also dollars contributed by the public as part of a statewide campaign the bank conducted this past spring.

In the last two years alone, CCA has experienced a 22 percent increase in heating costs.  In 2004, CCA spent $3,637 on oil to heat the 17 apartments that make up its Hillside Family Shelter.   Statewide, more than 16,000 people sought emergency shelter in 2004, while, concurrently, some shelters saw their heating costs rise 40 percent.

“This partnership was natural for Citizens Bank,” noted Richard Barry, president and CEO of Citizens Bank Connecticut, “ and through our participation, we hope to make it easier for these agencies to provide critical services to the people they serve.

“We are very grateful for what Citizens Bank has done with this effort and hope others will use it as an example of how they can address the issues of homelessness in Connecticut,” noted CCA Executive Director Rev. Bonita Grubbs.

Christian Community Action has been awarded a one-year $41,705 grant from the Universal Health Care Foundation of Connecticut to launch an initiative called HAVENetwork. 

The purpose of this initiative is to give people of color who are poor the opportunity to have their voices heard and their ideas considered in the ongoing debate over how best to fix what nearly all experts say is our nation’s dysfunctional health care system.

“HAVENetwork stands for Health Advocacy Voices Emerging Network,” noted CCA Executive Director Rev. Bonita Grubbs. “ What this highlights is our belief the ultimate solution to what is wrong in health care today lies in the creation of a publicly financed universal health care system. 

“We believe people of color who are poor and working, many of whom are either uninsured or underinsured, have a right to have their voices heard and their experiences taken into account with respect to what form this universal health care system should take, ” Rev. Grubbs said

Working through its Advocacy and Education Project (AEP), CCA recently co-sponsored, as part of the HAVENetwork initiative, a special public forum, together with Grand Avenue Village Associates, a Hispanic business association and Junta for Progressive Action, Inc., a Hispanic community organization

At the forum, speaker after speaker related problems they were having either affording health insurance and / or accessing care in a timely and appropriate manner.  Among the speakers were small business owners, health care professionals, government officials and consumers.

“Now that people have had an opportunity to voice their feelings about health care, the next step will be to invite them to participate with us in a six-session institute that is designed to educate them about why our current system is the way it is, that is, how it is structured, financed and administered,” Rev. Grubbs said. “Using this knowledge, we are hopeful this group will become the catalyst for a larger group that, working with other advocacy partners, will strive for legislative and policy changes that will guarantee quality health care for all the citizens of our state.

“We are not naïve enough to believe the problems inherent in our current health care system can all be remedied overnight,” Rev. Grubbs said. “ If positive change is ever to be achieved, however, it will take the constant and consistent efforts of citizen groups and the voices of their members such as we are attempting to create via HAVENetwork.”

CCA’s donors and volunteers – the “rock” that sustains the agency and the base on which all of its programs are built – were honored recently at the special luncheon held at Spring Glen Church, United Church of Christ in Hamden.

Guest speaker at the event was noted author, surgeon and alternative / holistic health and healing advocate Dr. Bernie Siegel, who spoke on what he called “CCA and PMS (the Physical, Mental and Spiritual)” in our lives.  Dr. Siegel, using both advice and humor, emphasized the importance of taking in account all three aspects of  being – the physical, the mental and the spiritual – when dealing with life’s burdens and challenges.

Also at the luncheon, an organization, a church and an individual were presented with CCA’s highest honor – its Pillar of the Community award – in recognition not only of their support for the agency, but their efforts to improve their communities.  The three were: Empower New Haven, Inc., First Congregational Church of Cheshire and William C. Graustein.

“We are deeply grateful for the support we have received from all three of our award recipients,” noted CCA Executive Director Rev. Bonita Grubbs, “ as we are for all the gifts and time given to us by all of our friends.”

The luncheon was sponsored by Encon Construction, Inc. and A-1 Toyota, with additional support provided by Fleur de Lys gift shop and Savitt Jewelers. Catering was provided by the Arts & Eats Café program of Fellowship Place, a local agency that provides persons recovering from mental illness with educational and employment-related opportunities to better their lives.