Downtown Evening Soup Kitchen, Inc.

Being part of the New Haven community means you get to know your neighbors really well. Liberty Bank - CT Foundation shows that in action through our partnership, where they've created essential warming kits, donated cake mix to help celebrate our guests, and most recently a $5,000 grant for support for our programs for unhoused individuals and households struggling with food insecurity. We're grateful for the generous gift presented by Damaris Garcia, VP & Manager of the New Haven Branch. With over one in three of our neighbors facing food insecurity, kindness from our neighbors at Liberty Bank Foundation makes our New Haven community stronger.

It's been a great summer spent with incredible interns. Learn what this amazing group had to say about their experience and what they accomplished at deskct.org/sinterns.

Big news at DESK 📢📢 we're switching to a new volunteer software to improve the volunteer experience! Sign up to serve New Haven at deskct.org/volunteer 🤝

Thanks to the APT Foundation, all DESK staff are trained in Basic Life Support, along with our dear friend Charmain Yun from Christian Community Action! Read all about it here: https://deskct.org/bls.

June 1-7 is CPR and AED Awareness Week! DESK's Drop-in and Resource Center sees 1,500 guests who will visit 17,500 times each year, meaning our staff is often the first response before first responders are able to arrive. Learn how a new defibrillator generously donated by Guilford's Defibtech, LLC will make our response stronger at deskct.org/defibtech

🎉 Big news for food security in New Haven! We're proud to share that the City of New Haven has committed $350,000 to support community-based food assistance programs in its FY 2026–2027 budget — passed by the Board of Alders on May 26. This funding will go directly to work that matters: stocking local pantries and soup kitchens with healthy food, supporting school break grocery distributions for New Haven families, expanding SNAP outreach, and improving infrastructure so our member organizations can serve more people with dignity. None of this would have been possible without YOU — the dozens of community members who testified, wrote letters, and called their Alders. Your voices were heard. CFAN is deeply grateful to Mayor Justin Elicker for championing this allocation, and to Board of Alders President Tyisha Walker-Myers, Finance Committee Chair Adam Marchand, Co-Chair Sal Punzo, and the full Board of Alders for their leadership and compassion throughout this process. Together, we're building a more just and equitable food system in Greater New Haven. 💖

Grateful to have worked with the talented team of graphic design students, Gian, Deyondre, and Alanah, at University of New Haven this semester! They helped us create a branding guide and draft next year's Annual Report to help us better communicate our impact in New Haven 💙

On April 30, DESK volunteers joined CFAN to testify before the Board of Alders, urging the city to restore funding for food assistance. Yesterday, Mayor Elicker proposed a $350,000 amendment to support CFAN. The Finance Committee will consider it on Thursday, with the full Board voting later this month. We're encouraged by this progress and will monitor to ensure it passes by June 1. DESK believes feeding neighbors isn't charity but a community responsibility that the City of New Haven should share. We hope all officials agree! #HungryForChange #FoodIsAHumanRight #NewHaven #DESK #CFAN #FoodJusticeice

A heartfelt thank you to our wonderful friends at Liberty Bank - CT for their continued support of DESK's Dinner Program, which serves nearly 300 nutritious meals each night, and the Weekly FoodPantry Program, which feeds nearly 160 families. Your support makes a difference!

📣Save-the-Date! See you in May!📣