Rotary, USB Help Elderly Shelter Get A Handicapped Equipped Van

Karen Messina, executive director of the Shelter of the Cross, visited Newtown Rotary to show off  the new van the Danbury shelter now have thanks to Newtown Rotary, one the largest contributors, and other benefactors. The organization provides shelter for elderly homeless people in the greater Danbury area.

Each year Newtown Rotary has a golf tournament in September and has made the Shelter of the Cross one of the major recipients of the money that is raised.  Together with money from two other groups, the Shelter of the Cross was able to purchase the much needed van.

 Prominently displayed on the side of the van is the Newtown Rotary name and logo.  Karen  Messina thanked Rotary for their many years of assistance. The new van features a wheelchair lift, which now enables the shelter personnel to transport one of the residents who was not able to walk far.

Rotary President Brian Amey announced that this year’s Golf Classic will be held on September 27at the Tashua Woods Golf Course in Trumbull.

The Shelter of the Cross held its 6th Annual Charity Breakfast at the Ethan Allen Inn on February 10, where 25 companies, organizations and individual people sponsored tables.   Sister Miriam Therese Winter was the keynote speaker. As a medical mission nun, she has traveled around the world ministering to refugees in camps on the Thai-Cambodian border and to starving children in Ethiopia.  Entertainment at the breakfast was furnished by the Femina Melodia Acappella Choir under the direction of Jan Gregory.

Also in attendance was Danbury Mayor Mark Broughton and the Rev Robert Weiss, pastor of St Rose of Lima Church in Newtown, who gave the invocation.