The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Moving company ready to deliver donations
NEW HAVEN — A local moving company is planning a Mother’s Day delivery for a nonprofit organization that works with abused and homeless mothers in need.
Doug Sudell, a franchisee for Two Men in a Truck in Rocky Hill and a new location in New Haven as of December 2017, said the company has run collection drives in Connecticut for about six years. This year, the company is launching a collection drive in New Haven for Mother’s Day, providing canned food and household cleaning supplies for individuals establishing their homes under New Reach, which it calls its “Movers for Moms” program.
“We’re working to collect nonperishable food items for the most part,” Sudell said. The company is coordinating with local businesses, and on Mother’s Day, it will ship materials to New Reach, which has offices in New Haven and Bridgeport. The goal, he said, is to collect 500 to 1,000 pounds in food and cleaning supply items.
Sudell said the timing of the event is meant to correspond with the summer months: collection drives are common around the winter holidays, but there is a need throughout the year.
Christie Stewart, director of development for New Reach, said the agency relies on donations for its programming — such as food, clothing or furniture.
“We try, whenever possible, to save our limited and precious financial resources, and when we can get the community to help, that always has a big impact for us,” she said.
The resources provided by New Reach cover a “spectrum” related to providing affordable housing to people experiencing homelessness, Stewart said.
“Our mission is to inspire independence for those affected by poverty and homelessness,” she said.
The Mother’s Day fundraiser is especially apropos, Stewart said, as about 80 percent of homeless families are headed by female, single heads of household. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the majority of unmet requests for services by women in domestic violence shelters are related to housing.
“Being a single mother with young kids, it’s extremely difficult to survive, especially in New Haven or Connecticut where there’s a massive shortage of affordable housing,” she said.
According to a study done this year by The Partnership for Strong Communities, 50 percent of renters in Connecticut pay more than 30 percent of their income on housing; the number is 57 percent of renters in New Haven. Affordable housing comprises more than 10 percent of the available housing stock in only 31 of the state’s 169 municipalities.
Stewart said New Reach plans on distributing the resources collected to all of its programs, including its two offices in Bridgeport.
A representative with Two Men and a Truck said there are currently four drop-off points for donations in New Haven — Elm City Market at 777 Chapel Street. , the Powerhouse building at 458 Grand Avenue, Frontier Communications at 310 Orange Street the Yale New Haven Hospital St. Raphael Campus at 1450 Chapel Street — and Atria Larson in Hamden at 1450 Whitney Ave.