Southern Connecticut
Fairfield, New Haven, Middlesex & New London Counties
Meral Prewitt
AASW Program Coordinator
As of September 4, 2009, Covenant to Care for Children will be closing its branch offices in Strafford and Waterbury. Covenant to Care for Children will continue serving the entire state of Connecticut through its five programs. No reduction in service to children in crisis is anticipated.
Covenant to Care for Children is taking these and other steps in part because of the ongoing uncertainty of the Connecticut State budget both this year and looking forward. National economic factors and forecasts for the nonprofit sector have also contributed to our decision to downsize and consolidate.
We are committed to the continued use of our donors' dollars to best serve the neglected, at-risk and abused children and youth of Connecticut. We will not be reducing our services to the children we serve.
Along with the closing of our branch offices, we are initiating a staff restructuring of our Adopt A Social Worker Program. We are saying a sad and fond goodbye to Program Coordinators Judith Chewning, Chastity Taylor, and Megan Cardinal.
Program Coordinator Meral Prewitt will cover the Adopt A Social Worker program for Fairfield, New Haven, Middlesex and New London Counties. She will additionally cover the towns of New Milford, Bridgewater, and Watertown.
Litchfield, Hartford, Tolland and Windham Counties will have a new Program Coordinator to be named shortly.
Our Adopt A Social Worker Program Coordinators will be based in our Main office, 120 Mountain Avenue, Suite 212, Bloomfield, CT 06002. They may be reached at (860) 243-1806. Requests for our Critical Goods Program or for funds should be faxed to (860) 243-0100.
If you have any questions regarding this downsizing, please do not hesitate to contact me.
For the short term, our goal is to maintain our levels of service and commitment until the economic climate allows us to move back into a growth phase. We know with your continued partnership and support, we will be able to accomplish all that needs to be done for our kids.
Thank You,
Caryl Hallberg
Executive Director
By Patty Ford
About 15 years ago I met my friend, Meral Prewitt. She told me about her job with Covenant to Care for Children of Connecticut (CCC) and the Adopt A Social Worker Program. She spoke of the large number of children (about 75,000) at risk each year in Connecticut. She told me that CCC helps approximately 25,000 children per year with the aid of faith-based communities. She spoke of children right in our own communities that were being abused, neglected or living in severe poverty.
Here were children whose families oftentimes could not provide basic material needs – items as simple as a crib or a bed; a bicycle or a car seat. Here were children whose families needed help to provide a nurturing environment. Here were children who were at risk of being separated from their families or not being reunited with their families unless their basic needs were met.
As a parent and responsible adult, my heart bled. As a Christian my compassion flowed. I started donating anything that Meral needed help with.
Today I am asking for assistance from ALL of our Trinity family. Please think about all of the blessings in your own lives and how wonderful it would be to share them with children – to give them a second chance of living a happy, healthy and most importantly, safe life.
Through the Adopt A Social Worker Program our task at Trinity will be to help the Social Worker that we are adopting on June 7, 2009. At that time we will sign a covenant with the Social Worker and Covenant to Care in Connecticut (sic). After that the Social Worker will tell me as the liaison what kinds of items – food, clothing, furniture, etc. – her clients will need. I will then convey the need to the congregation via bulletin boards, phone trees, or email. It might be backpacks for children returning to school in the Fall. It might be a baby shower to collect items for new moms and infants. It might be moving or storing furniture donations. Most importantly it will be knowing that we are helping to build a child’s confidence and self esteem. It will be a child knowing that there are faithful and caring people, old and young, who want to make a difference in their lives.
As I think back to my first donation to Covenant to Care in Connecticut (sic) 15 years ago, I remember Meral telling me how thrilled the clients were to not only get furniture but furniture that matched. It made me smile then and it still makes me smile now. Won’t you help me make more people smile by helping these children?
Respectfully submitted,
Patty Ford
Adopt A Social Worker Liaison
Trinity Church, Southport, CT
May 14, 2009
1 Covenant to Care for Children
2 Trinity Church in Southport, CT
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