(L to R) Jamie Kalamarides, General Chair, The Hartford Bishops’ Foundation, Archbishop Christopher J. Coyne, and Karen Gross, Executive Director of The Hartford Bishops’ Foundation and of Development for the Archdiocese of Hartford, present Community Health and Well Being (CHWB) Regional Director Carolyn Alessi and CHWB Manager Melissa Crawford a grant to support the Joan C. Dauber Food Pantry after the foundation’s Connecticut Golf Classic fundraiser. Created at Saint Francis in 1976, the Joan C. Dauber Food Pantry was the first to be located within a hospital setting in the nation. Now located on the Mount Sinai Rehabilitation Hospital campus in the north end of Hartford, a neighborhood that experiences a high level of poverty, food insecurity, and life-threatening health conditions, the pantry serves more than 2,900 in-person clients per month and 20 community locations, including senior housing sites. In addition to food, the pantry also provides nutritional counseling and case management as well as diapers, toiletries, and clothing. Through an investment of funds from Trinity Health a few years ago, Community Health and Well-Being (CHWB) redesigned the pantry to operate with a “client choice” model that makes it possible to stock healthier foods, including fresh produce, dairy, and meats, and allows clients to select the foods best suited to their family’s tastes and needs. As part of the redesign, CHWB added new glass-front refrigerated units, shelving, shopping carts, and signage including Supporting Wellness at Pantries (SWAP) system food labels. The pantry was also one of the first sites at Saint Francis and Mount Sinai to pilot a now widely used Social Influencers of Health screening tool. As a result, Community Health Workers at the pantry are able to identify clients with other pressing basic human needs and connect them to additional resources. Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, the pantry has experienced an estimated 30 percent increase in the number of clients/households it serves each year and as a result, often has a long line of clients waiting for their turn to shop for food and other basic necessities. The line of clients waiting to enter the pantry frequently extends from inside the pantry lobby to outside the hospital building, including in the heat of summer and colder winter months. The new grant will afford the pantry the ability to purchase items aimed at making clients more comfortable and promoting their dignity during the wait.
Joan C. Dauber Food Pantry Receives Grant
Saint Francis Hospital’s Joan C. Dauber Food Pantry has received a $20,000 grant from The Hartford Bishop’s Foundation. The grant was made possible through the Foundation’s Connecticut Golf Classic Fundraiser and was presented to Carolyn Alessi, Regional Director of Community Health and Well-Being and Melissa Crawford, Manager of the Food Pantry, at the conclusion of the golf tournament. The Foundation selected the beneficiaries for its 2024 event to align with one of Archbishop Christopher J. Coyne’s social ministry priorities – addressing hunger and food insecurity in the greater Hartford, New Haven, and Waterbury communities.