Blog - Operation Hope of Fairfield

Seeking Volunteers to Make Community Kitchen Dinner June 13 & 14

May 23, 2024

Did you know that our Community Kitchen serves lunch and dinner Monday through Friday to feed approximately 50 guests per meal who come to us hungry? For many of our guests, this will be the only meal they eat that day.

We rely on so many generous volunteers in the community and surrounding area to prepare and donate these meals. We have a few holes in our April calendar and seek your help! We’re looking for volunteers to make dinners in their homes and deliver for our guests on June 13 and 14. This is a fun volunteer opportunity for families, book clubs, friends, clubs, teams, Scouts, etc. Please send us an email here if you can help. We will respond with further details and answer any of your questions. We will also have openings in July, August and September. Quick overview of what we need:

Meal components to feed 50 people and be fully cooked upon drop off
Drop off at our Community Kitchen at 50 Nichols Street, Fairfield between 9:30am-3:00pm on day of assigned date
Meal components include a protein main course, a starch, a vegetable, salad & dressing
Beverages (gallon jugs of tea & lemonade are always welcome)

Thank you for considering and for helping feed our neighbors in need!

Office, Food Pantry & Community Kitchen Closed for Memorial Day

May 23, 2024

Our business office, Food Pantry and Community Kitchen will be closed Monday, May 27, in honor of Memorial Day. The business office and Community Kitchen will resume regular hours on Tuesday, May 28 and the Food Pantry will resume regular hours Wednesday, May 29, 10am-12pm. Have a safe and happy holiday weekend!

Thanks to CompHealth Trumbull Team for Donating Snack Bags for Day of Purpose

May 22, 2024

CompHealth, a healthcare staffing company with its Connecticut location in Trumbull, recently celebrated its corporate-wide Day of Purpose on May 7, where employees participate in a volunteer event. Employees gathered that day for an in-office packaging event and put together 100 snack bags filled with tuna salad kits, fruit cups, granola bars, mixed nuts, water/juice, utensil packs with napkins, tissues, lip balms and hand sanitizers. These snack bags are distributed by our outreach staff and we are always in need so we are deeply grateful to the Trumbull CompHealth team for helping feed and care for our neighbors in need on its day of service. Thank you!

Thank You to Volunteers Who Helped Sort Postal Drive Donations

May 21, 2024

Last Saturday, dozens of volunteers of all ages gathered in Operation Hope’s parking lot to set up, sort, store and clean up a large part of No the 27,555 pounds, or 13.78 tons, of non perishable donations collected from the annual Letter Carriers’ Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive!

We emptied one full pod and about half the other pod. Lots left to go! We only had to stop because we ran out of storage crates!

Our volunteers worked hard non-stop and always with a smile. Thank you for making our job organizing these donations in the pantry so much easier!

Those bright yellow, hard-to-miss bags this year played a huge part in the drive’s success. Thanks again to the 3 bag sponsors – Fairfield Motoworks, Pizza Mediterranean and Trumbull BMX –

And a huge thank you to Mike Capodicci and his team of Fairfield & Southport letter carriers, to the Town of Fairfield and to all of YOU who generously left donations by your mailbox.

Mark your calendar for the next annual Letter Carriers’ Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive on May 10, 2025!

Annual Letter Carriers’ Stamp Out Hunger Drive Collects Close to 14 Tons

May 18, 2024

Wow! We are blown away by the generosity of the residents of Fairfield and Southport! We have the stats from last week’s annual Letter Carriers’ Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive! 📫 Drumroll, please 🥁…the letter carriers collected 27,555 pounds, or 13.78 tons, of non perishable donations! Collections in 2022 and 2023 each had about 5.5 tons so this year is more than double the past two years! Consider the males of the largest of all land animals, the African elephant, average between 2 and 7 tons. That’s almost 2 elephants of donations! 🐘🐘

The drive was an enormous success, thanks to Mike Capodicci, one of Fairfield’s letter carriers, who organized everything for this year’s drive 🙌 And thanks to all the letter carriers who participated! The letter carriers who chose to participate in the drive all volunteered to do this…as they do every year. Thank you for spending a large part of your Saturday to help feed and care for our neighbors in need! 🙏

Mike’s suggestion of getting the bright yellow, hard-to-miss bags this year played a huge part in the drive’s success. Mike reallocated the money usually used to purchase t-shirts for the letter carriers and the money he raised from the 3 sponsors – Fairfield Motoworks, Pizza Mediterranean and Trumbull BMX – to purchase the bags. Mike worked so hard to make the drive a success….we are grateful for his helping hands and enthusiasm. Everyone was excited to see the bags of donations pouring into the post office parking lot! 🤩

Thanks to Fairfield First Selectman Bill Gerber, who stopped by to issue a proclamation and help load a few bags. We are grateful to the many wonderful volunteers who pitched in to unload and load bags of donations all day long. And finally, we are indebted to the Fairfield and Southport residents who left donations out over the weekend for their letter carriers. It’s takes a village to care for those most in need in our community and we all did that together last Saturday 🥰

Mark your calendar for the next annual Letter Carriers’ Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive on May 10, 2025! 📅

Congressman Jim Himes Recognizes Carla Miklos as Top Female Leader

May 15, 2024

We’re immensely proud to announce that our Executive Director, Carla Miklos, has been nominated by Congressman Jim Himes as a woman leader in our district! 🙌 While those who have had the privilege of collaborating with Carla over the years, we appreciate the Congressman’s recognition of Carla as a role model, a source of inspiration and an integral part of our community ❤

Carla’s leadership championing local homeless prevention and economic opportunity for our struggling neighbors make southwest Connecticut a better place for everyone. Through her tireless dedication and unwavering drive, she empowers Operation Hope’s invaluable team and countless volunteers to make a critical and significant impact in our community. As a strong female leader, Carla inspires those around her and helps all of us build on each other’s strengths. Thanks so much to the community member who nominated Carla and to Congressman Himes for the acknowledgment 🙏

Congratulations, Carla! ⭐️

Happy Mother’s Day!

May 12, 2024

Mother’s Day offers a very special opportunity to honor those who open so many doors in our lives. Mothers, mothers-in-law, grandmothers, aunts, sisters, daughters, fathers, sons, uncles, friends, neighbors and mentors all touch our lives in significant and lasting ways. When you shower your mom or the special person who plays that role in your life today, please think of the moms struggling in our community. We thank you for helping us provide the most basic of needs to the most vulnerable members of our community. In difficult and uncertain times, those in need, more than ever, depend on caring and compassionate people like you. Happy Mother’s Day! 💐

Donations Needed to Help Fill Pantry Shelves this Month

May 8, 2024

If you’re stocking up on your pantry basics, please take a moment to help our neighbors in need. Our most pressing needs are cash, checks and grocery store gifts cards, which allow us to purchase fresh produce, dairy and meat for our clients.

Regular sized items (not bulk) appreciated. Drop off at our pantry M-F, 9am-4:30pm at 636 Old Post Road; there’s a drop off area to the left of the building. Please ring the bell and someone will greet you. Please do not leave donations unattended and when the office is closed. Monetary donations are always welcome so we can purchase exactly what we need for our clients, donate here. Or, feel free to purchase from our Amazon wish list here and your donation will be shipped directly to the pantry. Thank you!

– CASH, CHECKS, GROCERY STORE GIFT CARDS (to buy perishables)

– Instant ramen cups

– Peanut butter & jelly

– Pasta sauce & tomato products

– Baking mixes
– Jello & pudding

– Broth & chowder

– Hot sauce, BBQ sauce & other sauces

– Crackers & cookies

– Cleaning products (disinfectant wipes, all purpose cleaning spray, etc.)

– Paper towels
– Tissues
– Toilet paper

Helene Daly Inspires COMPASSion Daily

May 7, 2024

Inadvertently an ad in last week’s 21st Annual Evening of Hope program went missing so we wanted to share a special shoutout for Helene Daly of COMPASS 🏡 The mission of Compass is to help everyone find their place in the world, which is also part of our mission ❤ Helene is a fixture in the Fairfield community, and not only through Compass does she inspire COMPASSion daily, but also through the community group she helped co-found, Neighbors Helping Neighbors – Fairfield & Southport. Helene, thank you for your continued and generous support of Operation Hope and our neighbors in need!

Happy Volunteer Appreciation Week!

Apr 26, 2024

Happy Volunteer Appreciation Week!

Operation Hope relies tremendously on you, our volunteers. You form the backbone of our ability to provide affordable housing, run the food pantry and offer services for our neighbors in need.

Not just this week, but every day, we thank the countless people of all ages near and far who lend their time, treasure, talent, voice and support to advance our mission to end hunger and end homelessness. Together, we are helping people solve their crises and build stability in an environment in which compassion inspires dignity and hope.

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