| Friends and volunteers, Sunrise Cafe resumed limited pandemic operations on March 25 with assistance from Downtown Evening Soup Kitchen (DESK). Limited means a brown bag with snack style breakfast items provided by DESK. The board of directors met this morning (Friday, April 2) with our operations manager via Zoom and decided to continue pandemic operations with a review each Friday. Beginning Monday, our staff and volunteers will again be preparing bags at the Cafe and will be including a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. We are currently serving 50-60 guests per day with all service outdoors along Olive Street. Guests have a porta-potty they can use while the Cafe is open. While this is not ideal, it does allow for social distancing for our guests, volunteers and staff. Plus, we only need two volunteers per day. Sara Henry, an amazing neighbor in Hamden, sewed masks for us. Two days later, State Senator Marty Looney and State Representative Josh Elliott were able to provide us with additional masks and gloves. We now have the safety supplies we desperately needed and can provide a mask to a guest if they have symptoms. We are so extremely grateful for their compassion for the guests, volunteers and staff at the Cafe. Please continue to hold the Cafe’s guests, volunteers and staff in your thoughts and prayers. If you are able, your continued donations during our pandemic operations allow us to pay our staff and purchase supplies during this challenging time. Thank you for all that you are doing and in all things be safe. Art Hunt Sunrise Cafe |