Blog - Operation Hope of Fairfield

CT Severe Cold Weather Protocol In Effect December 21-24

Dec 20, 2024

As a blast of arctic air is forecast to impact Connecticut, Governor Ned Lamont is directing the state’s Severe Cold Weather Protocol to go into effect from Saturday, December 21 through Tuesday, December 24. Shelters and warming centers are available statewide. If you or someone you know is in urgent need of a place to keep warm, find your nearest warming center by calling 2-1-1 or at https://uwc.211ct.org/get-help/warmingcenters/.

17th Annual Community Kitchen Holiday Meal Feeds 80

Dec 20, 2024

It takes a village to feed 80 people!

Thank you to Michelle Moore and her daughters, Sydney and Sophie Kay, for organizing the holiday meal for the 17th year in a row

Fun fact – this dinner was started by a Girl Scout troop and those kids are now 27 and are still cooking for the dinner! Thanks to everyone who contributed food, we are especially appreciative as the number of guests increased this year. We are so grateful for this group of volunteers!

Our kitchen staff, Jamila and Jaime, in addition to serving the meal, had games planned to make this a wonderful holiday celebration for our guests

“Gingerbread Houses for Hope” Help Neighbors in Need this Holiday Season

Dec 20, 2024

Thanks to everyone who purchased a “Gingerbread House for Hope” this season These sweet treats will help provide funding for services, food and essentials and affordable housing for our neighbors in need. And the biggest thanks to Fairfield resident, Carole Canzoneri, and her merry team of volunteers from “The Great Charity Gingerbread House Project.” These volunteers have baked, assembled, beautifully packaged and donated over 4,000 gingerbread houses for 25 years for various charities, bringing joy and sweet memories to many while helping those most in need in our community. The houses are all baked and assembled in Carole’s home and everything used – the ingredients, candy and wrapping – are all donated by generous people in the community, including a chocolate Elf on the Shelf donated by Marlene Battista We are grateful for these volunteers and for all those who supported this fundraiser. Happy holidays!

Fairfield Prep Donates Food for Pantry as Part of Great Ignatian Challenge

Dec 19, 2024

Once again, Fairfield Prep recently joined fellow Jesuit high schools in the Great Ignatian Challenge to raise awareness of hunger in our communities, while filling local food banks and pantries with tens of thousands of pounds of much-needed provisions for families who are struggling. Operation Hope is grateful to be one of the beneficiaries of these generous donations. The photo shows just one of the pallets of donations we received. Thank you to the Prep community for helping our neighbors in need this holiday season and into the winter months!

Fairfield Girl Scout Troops & Volunteers Donate 207 Dozen Cookies for Client Holiday Baskets

Dec 17, 2024

Fairfield Girl Scout Troop 30176 hosted its 8th Annual Cookie Platter Project for Operation Hope, making 207 cookie boxes of a dozen cookies each – that’s 2,484 cookies, if you’re counting! The troop solicited the help of other Girl Scout troops and local volunteers to provide treats. Hershey kisses and mini candy canes were also included in these treat boxes that will be gifted to our clients along with their December holiday meal baskets. The Scouts assembled the boxes at First Church Congregational and delivered them next door to us. Thanks so much to all Fairfield Girl Scout troops and volunteers around town who provided cookies and treats, making the holidays sweet this season!

It’s a Wrap for “Hope for the Holidays!”

Dec 13, 2024

It’s a wrap on our annual gifting program, “Hope for the Holidays!” We are overwhelmed and humbled with the generosity each of you showed in helping to make 2024’s “Hope for the Holidays” a success. Thank you to all the individuals, book groups, friend groups, coworkers, youth groups, church groups, community groups and families for coming together to make the holidays brighter for 42 families and 66 individuals, as well as to our friends who stopped by to create handmade cards to accompany the gift card packages. Thank you for opening your hearts to brighten the holiday season for our neighbors in need.

The gift cards were dropped off by December 3. The wish lists were matched with all of the donated cards, gift boxes were prepped, gift cards wrapped and then grouped by social worker. All of your donations were delivered to Operation Hope the morning of December 5 and are now being distributed to our clients.

Our deepest gratitude goes to our two angel volunteers, Meredith McCormack and Sheila Sullivan. Taking the reins of this gifting program for the second year, Meredith and Sheila effortlessly made “Hope for the Holidays” a success, giving hope and joy to our clients in another challenging year. If you’d like to participate in the 2025 program, please contact Meredith and Sheila here to be added to the email list. We welcome new friends! Everyone who donated and volunteered truly made a difference this holiday season and we can’t thank you enough. We wish you and yours the happiest of holiday seasons and a blessed 2025!

Annual Jennings School Turkey Trot Collects Pantry Donations

Dec 12, 2024

Thanks so much to the Jennings Elementary School community! They held their annual Turkey Trot just before Thanksgiving and collected a very generous carload of donations to help stock our Food Pantry. Students running for others to make a difference for our neighbors in need

Cummings Brothers Host 6th Annual Food Drive in Honor of Grandmother

Dec 10, 2024

Brothers John and Joey Cummings recently held their 6th annual food drive for Operation Hope, delivering donations collected from visiting over 200 neighbors in their Shelton neighborhood. John, a freshman at Fairfield University and Joey, a junior in high school, have been running the drive for 6 years, held in memory of the their late grandmother and former Fairfield resident Joan Lauro, who was a longtime supporter of Operation Hope. Each year, she purchased extra food for Operation Hope and her grandsons now continue the tradition in her honor. We are grateful to John and Joey for their time and effort and their Shelton neighbors for their generosity. We appreciate the brothers’ dedication to helping our neighbors in need, while cherishing the memory of their beloved grandmother.

Fairfield Kids Garden Club Makes Community Space Merry & Bright

Dec 9, 2024

Thanks to the kids club of the Fairfield Garden Club for spending the day making beautifully painted pots for poinsettias for our Community Kitchen! Such a lovely way to share their talents and time to make our space merry and bright!

Weed Man Westport Grassroots Giving Drive Helps Neighbors in Need

Dec 9, 2024

Did you know that 1 in 8 households in the United States face food insecurity? That means that many families in our community do not have sufficient access to quality food and other basic needs.

Weed Man Westport strives to make a difference for people in need, right in our own backyard – and we’re deeply grateful for their help this holiday season. Weed Man Westport recently held a fall food drive, Grassroots Giving, to support Operation Hope. Customers of Weed Man Westport were invited to donate shelf-stable food items to Operation Hope by leaving them on porches in advance of fall service. Many thanks to Weed Man Westport and their customers for helping us fight against food insecurity in our community this holiday season.

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