HOM Team Learns About The Dorothy Day House

By Eliza Hallabeck

At its first meeting of the 2012-13 school year, members of the Head O’ Meadow School Community Team (SCT) learned about Danbury’s Dorothy Day Hospitality House from frequent volunteer, Reed Intermediate School teacher Karen King.

“I’m here today, because when SCT starts, I always want to come and meet you first hand,” said Ms King to the students before school began on Friday, September 28.

Ms King explained that she is many things, just like the fourth grade students in Head O’ Meadow’s SCT. She is a daughter, sister, bike rider, teacher, and a volunteer.

“Just because you are here today, each one of you is a volunteer,” said Ms King.

The SCT members help gather items and contributions for the Dorothy Day Hospitality House each school year, and this year’s first month effort will be to collect candy from the Head O’ Meadow community to donate to the hospitality house.

“I’m here to kick off your year in SCT,” said Ms King.

Ms King shared aspects of the Dorothy Day Hospitality House with the students through a slideshow, and explained ways the students can help.

Danbury’s hospitality house, Ms King explained, was inspired by a woman named Dorothy Day, who, Ms King said, believed everyone deserved a warm meal a day and she started a shelter. Some people in the Newtown area, Ms King told the students, wanted to replicate what Ms Day had begun, and the Danbury shelter and kitchen was established.

Ms King serves as a waitress once a week, and told the students anyone who wants a meal gets one for free every day.

“I’d say about 120 people in Danbury come every single night, people who can’t afford a meal come there,” said Ms King.

Each night there is also room at the hospitality house for 16 people to sleep, and more than 100 volunteers help make the shelter and kitchen possible, said Ms King. Some volunteers also spend the night at the shelter to oversee the safety of the people sleeping there.

“We all just do it because we want to make the world a better place,” Ms King said.

The effort to serve the roughly 120 nightly visitors begins around 3:15 pm, according to Ms King, and, along with a hot meal, people are also given a bagged meal prepared by volunteers.

One thing past SCT members did to help the Dorothy Day Hospitality House, Ms King said, was collect and donate mugs that are now used for coffee and other warm beverages. Students have also created hand-drawn place mats that are used daily.

“Little things like that make a big difference to somebody,” Ms King said about the place mats, “and it is something you can easily do.”

Ms King said the Dorothy Day Hospitality House is always in need of sugar, spaghetti sauce, instant potatoes, gravy, instant iced tea and lemonade mixes, heavy socks, underwear, dish towels, paper towels, and napkins.

Other needed items, according to the house’s website, www.dorothydaydanbury.org, are coffee, cookies, canned fruit, ketchup, mustard, hot sauce, canned vegetables, cake mixes, cake frosting, toilet paper, dishwashing liquid, rice, silverware, and individual sized toiletries.

The Dorothy Day Hospitality House is at 11 Spring Street, Danbury, and is run completely by volunteers, according to Ms King.