Charity Breakfast To Benefit For Thresholds Shelter

DANBURY — Pediatrician and child advocate Jack S.C. Fong, MD, of Newtown, will be the featured speaker at the Second Annual Celebrity Breakfast to benefit Thresholds Women & Children Shelter on Tuesday, May 16, 7:30 to 9:00 am at the Amber Room on Stacey Road in Danbury.

Business and civic leaders will serve breakfast and collect the tips to benefit Thresholds, the only shelter in the region providing 24-hour a day emergency housing for homeless women and children.

“Dr Fong has been an outstanding advocate for women and children in the greater Danbury area. His personal compassion, commitment, and activism have helped to bring medical care and prevention services to the children of our community,” said attorney Robert Carlsen of Danbury, president of the Thresholds Advisory Board.

“We can think of no more credible person than Dr Fong to discuss the challenges facing women and children in our society. He speaks with great authority and conviction and we look forward to his remarks,” said Mr Carlsen.

Mr Carlsen, who is chairing this year’s Celebrity Breakfast along with his wife, Patty, said last year’s event raised $10,000 for the women’s shelter.

Dr Fong is chairman of the Department of Pediatrics at Danbury Hospital, and founder and chief of Wellness on Wheels outreach service and Children with Special Health Needs Health Care Clinic in Danbury. He also serves as school health advisor for the New Fairfield Public Schools, and a member of the Board of Dreams Come True of Western Connecticut and Family Voice of Connecticut.

A graduate of the McGill University Medical School in Montreal, Dr Fong is Associate Clinical Professor at New York Medical College and Yale University School of Medicine.

According to Eileen Walsh, director of Outreach Services for Catholic Charities, which sponsors Thresholds, the shelter meets an important need in the community because Danbury’s two existing shelters, a Dorothy Day House and the New Street city shelter, cannot accommodate children. Unlike many overnight shelters, Thresholds does not require its residents to leave every morning.

Ms Walsh said the average shelter resident is 30 years of age with two children under the age of five. The length of stay runs between 30 and 60 days, during which time residents work to develop job skills and to find long-term housing. They can also apply for extended stays if necessary.

The emergency shelter is supervised by the Catholic Charities Case Management Program, which provides counseling and coordinated social service plans for the homeless and those suffering from mental illness in the region. The agency also operates New Heights, a clubhouse for adults with severe and prolonged mental illness.

To make a reservation for the Celebrity Breakfast call Thresholds Shelter, 203/748-0848, extension 3001.