Dear Friends,
It’s been a Year! Masks, hand washing, hand sanitizer, six feet apart, regular COVID testing, serving breakfast outdoors. We did not begin to imagine in January what we would have to endure or that the year would end this way.
We adapted. Sunrise Cafe will be serving breakfast all winter. On a typical morning, we serve 60 guests. In addition, we bring breakfast to Fair Haven on Monday and Tuesday (with plans to add additional days in January) and began delivering 60 breakfasts each weekday morning to the housing underserved temporarily housed for the winter at La Quinta hotel.
Mike, Julio, Dusty. Paul, and Sandy
While we are unable to invite guests indoors, we can at least serve a hot breakfast and hot coffee each morning. Our small group of steadfast volunteers arrive every morning at 6 am or earlier to begin preparations. They work together with the ease of long experience and are able to do so
because you work alongside them. You purchase the food we serve. You pay our staff salaries. Your support lifts our spirits and keeps us motivated to show up each day. Your donation goes right to work purchasing food and paying our small staff. Food, Staff, Rent, Insurance – it adds up. Every donation unlocks the door each morning, turns the lights on and starts a new day. For our guests, this is the most difficult time of year, especially this year. With restrictions back in place and public space limited, the days are colder and more isolated. We are most grateful for you.
We are also deeply grateful for our community partnerships and support. St. PJ’s is a wonderful place to make our home, and the network of organizations that lift up our community are a constant source of inspiration, assistance, and (distanced) togetherness. Sunrise has worked
with the Coordinated Food Assistance Network (CFAN) and New Haven’s Office of Housing & Homelessness Services since March to advocate for and contribute services. It is a generous, sharing and supporting community. Thank you one and all.
Cornell Scott Hill Health has been invaluable, both for guest medical services and for providing the COVID testing at Sunrise that allows us to carry out our mission secure in our efforts to protect everyone as much as possible.
We have also received special COVID related support from The Community Fund for Greater New Haven, Yale University’s Yale Community for New Haven Fund and the Archdiocese of Hartford’s Archbishop’s Annual Appeal. The Annual Appeal has provided support to Sunrise for several years.
Board of Directors
Sunrise needs to expand our board of directors. No experience is necessary, just a few hours to volunteer each month and an interest in serving the housing underserved in New Haven. Contact art@sunrisecafenewhaven.org
May the love and peace of this season of celebration – be it Hanukkah, Las Posadas, Kwanzaa, Yule, Saint Nicholas Day, Christmas or another special celebration of your tradition – surround you and may you be blessed with health and happiness in the New Year.
Art Hunt
Cafe Board of Directors
www.sunrisecafenewhaven.org