Weekend Review: CROP Walk for Hunger a Success!

A better late than never weekend article about this past Sunday’s CROP Walk. Held on the South Green. CROP Hunger Walks are community-wide events sponsored by Church World Service and organized by local congregations or groups to raise funds to end hunger at home and around the world. CROP was an acronym for the Christian Rural Overseas Program as it is under the Church World Service organization.

Local Organizersizer's changed the acronym to Community Response to Overcome Poverty for the event. The walk was organized by Bill Maune and Debra Hopkins, chapter leaders, and honorary co chaired by Mayor Giuliano. This is the second annual CROP Hunger Walk held in Middletown. Giuliano read a proclamation at the opening ceremony of the walk declaring Sept. 25, 2011 CROP Walk for Hunger Day. The organizing committee provided signs, bookmarks, and apples & water for walkers. Ron Krom, director of the local Amazing Grace Food Pantry was in attendance and spoke to the crowd about how funds raised at this event would find their way back to Middletown and help feed local families. Other dignitaries included Representative Matt Lesser (D) (also an honorary committee member), and Common Councilman Phil Pessina (R).

The walk was approximately 3 miles long going from the South Green, north on Main Street to Amazing Grace on Stack Street, and circling back along High Street back to the Green. Local Boy Scout Troop 72 raised funds for the cause and participated in the walk. Earlier this month, Amazing Grace put out a request for donations because the food supply was at an emergency low due to the increase in families needing assistance. This year 25% of the proceeds go directly to support the local efforts of the St. Vincent DePaul Soup Kitchen in Middletown with the remainder going to end hunger world wide. To date, the Middletown CROP Walk has raised $456.20 just with its corresponding online campaign. The online campaign is still open for donations ( see link). Update with the final figure to with what was raised at the walk to come!

Find out how you can help St. Vincent DePaul Amazing Grace Food Pantry here

The next event to benefit the pantry is:

Amazing Grace Food Pantry Invites you to the 2011 Amazing Challenge

Thursday, October 13, 2011 from 5:00—7:00 p.m.Fox Parish Center at St. Francis of Assisi Church 10 Elm St. Middletown. In the photo below, Ron Krom (left) speaks about food insecurity to the crowd, pictured are event organizers Bill Maune, and Debra Hopkins. Bottom photo, Troop 72 passes Spear Park. Walkers carried signs with the message "Stop Hunger."

To get involved with the CROP Committee on a local level contact:

Debra Hopkins, 860-346-6757, hopkinsinter@yahoo.com

Bill Maune, 860-635-6007, bmaune@att.net

In the photo below Ron Krom explains how funds reach Middletown, to his right are event organizers and CROP Walk Committee Chairs Bill Maune and Debra Hopkins. Opening prayer was given by Pastor Marybeth Marshall (pictured left). Debra Hopkins is founder and CEO of Hopkins International Ministries located at 131 Main Street Extension in Middletown. Kathy Burton a regional director with the World Church Service spoke. Leadra Hylton, age 15, was the youth coordinator for the event.

Pictured above, Boy Scout Troop 72 passes Spear Park.

Local Sponsors:Young Printing, Doolittle Funeral Home,Our donations came from Bob's Surplus, Home Depot, Stop & shop , Lyman Orchards, Middlesex Fruitery, 99 Restaurant,Wesleyan University, Price Chopper, Main Street Market,Only Natural Market,Royal Capital Management Group,Michael's Restaurant and Lounge

Krom Responds to Health Department Assertions

Ron Krom, Director of St. Vincent de Paul Soup Kitchen has sent a point by point refutation of some of the assertions made in a letter the Health Department sent to Mayor Sebastian Giuliano and the Common Council.



Mayor and Members of the Council



I know that the following letter to you from Sal Nesci was not directed to me, but since I've seen a copy, I cannot ignore many of the statements that were made in it. In the spirit of providing accurate information on this topic, I would like to offer the following. My comments follow each of the bullets in Sal's letter. I would be happy to speak with any of you regarding this matter at any time.



Ron Krom

Executive Director

St. Vincent DePaul Place



The following is the letter from Sal Nesci:



Gerry/Tim/Mayor/Council...

I do understand that you all have been getting lots of calls and emails about the alleged cease and desist order issued to St. Vincent DePaul Place. First of all, I want to make it clear that it is with the most heavy of hearts that I, as well as Dr. Havlicek and Manfred Rehm of the Health Department, had to put our signature on a legal notice to St. Vincent DePaul. A legal notice is not a cease and desist order. It is a written notification following an inspection or investigation resulting in the discovery of a violation. It allows the individual two weeks to seek a modification of the said practice in order to assure state compliance. Failure to comply usually results in the issuance of a legal order...for food service its usually 30 days. Failure to comply with the legal order Iusually results in the revocation of the license or abatement of the violation.



I've not used "cease and desist" at all. I've been clear in all that I've said and written that the legal notice comes as a CT DPH Food Inspection Report violation. I've also been clear that the legal notice I received said that "failure to correct the outstanding violation will result in the issuance of legal orders and . . . this may put your license to distribute food and beverage within the City of Middletown in jeopardy of being revoked."



For the record:The health department was never aware that the soup kitchen was open on Sunday's until about a month ago. In fact Inspector Rehm was told on numerous occasions that the soup kitchen is only open Monday through Friday. He has been told that by Ron Krom for several months.



It is unfortunate that this has now become a "he said, she said" - I have no recording of our conversations. However, neither I nor our Soup Kitchen Coordinator has ever said that we are only open Monday through Friday. I personally have never been asked that question. What reason would I have to hide the days of the week that we're open? In fact, I'm proud of the fact that we serve 363 days a year and we tell that to every funder, including the City of Middletown in our CDBG grant application every year for more than a decade. It says "Our Soup Kitchen is open seven days a week, 363 days a year." Granted, the health department doesn't see that application or my reports, but why would I tell the health department "on numerous occasions" that we are only open from Monday through Friday? For the record we're also open on Saturdays for breakfast and lunch, in addition to Sunday evenings for dinner.



The health department was never aware that the one meal that was served on Sunday nights was provided by area churches under the supervision of a soup kitchen staff member.



Yes they were. I personally told Fred Rehm this back in February or March when he came to ask me questions about the Food Not Bombs group. I remember telling him that I didn't know much about the Food Not Bombs meal, that it was served outside the Soup Kitchen by folks who were not connected to us. At that time I mentioned that our meals were on Sunday evenings.



The health department was never aware that a portion of this Sunday night meal was prepared in private homes and transported to the soup kitchen.



I believe that they were not aware of this until sometime near the end of August. On September 2, Fred Rehm was in my office and I confirmed that this was the case.



When we were made aware that this activity was possibly happening, we approached Ron Krom to ask if it is true and he stated to us that he has a criteria he uses to assure food coming in on Sunday night meets state code requirements and to the best of his knowledge it does. I stated to him that if that is the case than he is to continue his current practice and we as a health department will work with the area churches to educate them on proper donation procedures.



In fact, I assured them that the food comes from many home kitchens. Sal stated to me over the phone that I should continue my current practice and that he would work with the churches.The health department then sent a memo to all area churches reminding them that all charitable contributions made in the name of their organization should be that of non perishable food or food prepared in their licensed kitchens. The memo was sent on Sept 8, "reminding" churches that "all food contributions to any charitable event should be prepared on the premises in your kitchen currently licensed by the Middletown Health Department." The churches were confused - this was received more as a directive than a reminder. The only thing they remember is that they've been involved in this ministry for almost 30 years. I began to get calls asking "what's this about?" "Can we still serve our meal on Sunday?" "Will we be allowed to bring cupcakes that are baked in our parishioners' homes?"



At a recent hearing at DPH regarding Food Not Bombs, Mr. Krom was called as a witness and gave sworn testimony that he does in fact receive a portion of his Sunday night meal from private home kitchens which is in violation of the state health code. In fact he gave very specific examples of certain foods he receives from private kitchens on a regular basis.



This is true - I did not say anything that I had not already told Mr. Rehm and Mr. Nesci.



Because of the statement he made, we were required by virtue of the professional licenses we hold to confirm this and take appropriate steps to assist in the modification of the current practice. The very next day, Inspector Rehm visited Mr. Krom and Mr. Krom re-affirmed the statements he made in his sworn testimony the day before.



Why at the time of this hearing? Why not on September 2?



The notice sent does not pertain to the general operations of the facility Monday-Friday. It is only relative to a small percentage of the food distributed on Sunday night.



Not true. We receive sandwiches during the week from non-licensed kitchens. They come from families, church receptions, student classrooms, sunday school/catechism classes and more. At least a part of every meal, every Sunday night, is prepared in home kitchens. Last year we served 4133 meals on Sunday nights, or an average of 80 meals each Sunday. This is a significant part of our program and the need is growing. We are already serving 15% more people than this time last year.



To the issue of discretion:As we understand it, we are only talking about a percentage of the Sunday night meal in question. Relative to that, we believe that a viable solution would be to encourage donors continue using the licensed kitchens at their churches and to donate commercially prepared and prepackaged food that could be heated and served on the premises whereby eliminating the issue of cooking in their own homes. As we understand it, many churches already donate commercially prepared and prepackaged food to the soup kitchen. We are willing to work with any group that cannot readily comply and come to a code compliant resolution to anyone organizations concern and willingness to feed the hungry.



In some cases, it is the entire Sunday meal that comes from homes. Some of the smaller faith communities are able to participate in this program precisely because they can get their parishioners to sign up and make casseroles or desserts at home. If they were required to gather a group on a Sunday afternoon in a licensed kitchen, some have said they would not be able to participate. It isn't only about having a licensed kitchen - it's about gathering a group of people to prepare the meal.



We are in no way intending on revoking the license of St. Vincent DePaul. If we are put in a position where further code enforcement is required, we would only be seeking to curtail the distribution of food during the Sunday night program in that we need to assure that home cooked food is not distributed.



If there is no intention of revoking the license, then why include that language in the Legal Notice that they sent to me?



The health department is not looking to shut down thanksgiving and/or Christmas dinners. We are willing to work with any organization to make sure that there is a way to cook all turkeys. Just off the top of my head, we could utilize fraternal organization kitchens, school kitchens, church kitchens and restaurant kitchens. We just need to know how many turkeys need to be cooked.



There are turkeys, pies, breads, and more. I don't dispute that it may be possible to have this all prepared in licensed kitchens. If that is necessary, I would appreciate the assistance of the Health Dept to coordinate all that. Right now it is coordinated by the faith communities and a few volunteers who spend countless hours to put on these meals.



The Middletown health department values the security and safety of food distribution. It is our belief that the hungry and homeless of our community deserve the same rights and privileges in a free meal as paying customers at a restaurant do. All restaurants are inspected for compliance of their general practices regularly and that food is acquired from approved sources. Shouldn't the patrons of St. Vincent DePaul on Sunday nights receive the same consideration? That goes to the same position with Food Not Bombs?



St. Vincent DePaul Place values security and safety of food distribution too. And we absolutely believe that the poor and homeless of our community deserve the same rights and privileges as everyone. Don't they deserve a home cooked meal too? A license does not guarantee food safety. We take food safety very seriously and ensure the proper heating, refrigeration, storage, and serving protocols. We also have a 30-year history of serving food to this vulnerable population and no one can remember any incidence of food poisoning. Can the same be said for all the licensed restaurants in town?



Any resolution or change to current city ordinance regulating the distribution of food and beverage cannot supersede current state statute or health code.

We are encouraged by the activity on the State level to change this law. Today's Courant reports that legislators were "dumbfounded" to learn that state laws prohibit the longstanding practice of parishioners preparing meals in their homes for shelters and food kitchens. There is a bipartisan movement to get this legislative change onto the implementer bill, and Governor Rell has said that she supports that too.



Food safety and security has taken a front line position in our national security post 9/11 and much time, energy and money have been spent in the way of agro terrorism. To compromise our interpretation of code regulation, we are minimizing state and federal efforts of homeland security and safety.

Just because every other town "compromises their interpretation of the code" doesn't make it right. I get that. But to not do so threatens our ability to provide nutritious meals to the poor of our community. Somehow, some way, I believe that we can find an answer. And hopefully the State law is changed very quickly.



***We had a very productive meeting this morning with Peter Harding, who as you know is the former director of St. Vincent DePaul. He is willing to work with us to achieve compliance. It is his understanding, as it is ours, that the entire situation has been blown way out of proportion and the issue we are dealing with in this legal notice is small in comparison to what the media and blogs have turned it into. He has assured me that together we will come to and understanding where we will be able to put this issue to rest without compromising the mission of the soup kitchen as well as our professional integrity. My spirit is strong in this regard and we will work to do what ever we can to make this happen. I will keep you posted.



I'm glad that Peter is willing to work with the Health Dept. to help sort this out and to find a compromise. I welcome the opportunity to participate in these discussions as well.

Does State Health Statute Make Communion Illegal?

"On a regular basis, every Sunday, we have communion," said Reverend Joel Neubauer, pastor of Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church on Washington Street, at a meeting of the faith-based community concerned with state laws regulating charitable food distribution. "People bring wine from home. They bake bread at home and bring it to church for communion. We drink out of the same cup. Now I'm hearing that it's an illegal act?"

Attorney Dan Livingston, part of the law firm defending Food Not Bombs against a citation for distributing food without a license, confirmed the worse.

"Technically, it's illegal," Livingston said. "But whether the health department would cite you is another question."

"We're basically not being able to practice our faith because or what they're saying," Reverend R. Maureen Hawksley of St. Paul Lutheran Church said.

"You could make that argument," Livingston agreed.

The group included concerned members of the Middletown clergy, members of the health care community, and other concerned residents. They gathered because they are alarmed by a recent strict adherence by the city Health Department to a state statute prohibiting any food not prepared in a licensed kitchen from being served to the public.

The meeting was held Monday night at the St. Vincent dePaul Soup Kitchen on Main Street where director Ron Krom served as host, and provided a historical context for the meeting. He explained that indeed, state statute prohibits any food not prepared in a licensed kitchen, from being served to the public on a regular basis.

This statute was cited by city health department officials when they arrested Food Not Bombs members for sharing food with the public in a regular Sunday meal on the corner of Main and Liberty Streets.

Krom noted the similarity between what Food Not Bombs was doing and what his organization did every Sunday at dinner when they served food prepared and donated by community members. And when he testified to the fact at a state hearing, he found himself the subject of a Health Department citation.

"If I don't comply," he explained. "They have threatened to take away my license."

Krom explained that the citation did not come when the city first learned of the distribution of food from unlicensed kitchens at his soup kitchen, but only after he made public testimony at the State Department of Health in defense of Food Not Bombs.

"We serve sandwiches that are made by some of the schools, by some of the Catholic classes, Boy and Girl Scouts," Krom said. "And now we're being told we cannot receive these sandwiches."

As many pointed out, the irony of the current law is that it provides an exception for charitable organizations who cook food in unlicensed kitchens, and sell it to raise funds. So a bake sale is legal, but a church after-service social, at which baked goods are shared, is technically illegal.

"What if we sold the food at Sunday meals for a penny," suggested Middletown YMCA director Bob Spencer, who is also on the board of directors at St. Vincent dePaul.

"The law is rarely this blatantly stupid," Livingston explained noting that the state legislature, which is currently in special session, has been urged to address the flaw in the law (CT State Statute 19A-36). "Technically this is not a budget issue," he said. "But they could hook this change onto an implementer bill, which is a budget bill."

State Senator Paul Doyle, who represents Middletown, was the only state or city elected official at the meeting.

"I guarantee I will try to get it in," Doyle promised. "But I can't promise that it will make it in or that it will pass. I will certainly push and I will speak to the rest of the delegation. The cause is so broad that it affects everyone. The truth of the matter is that sometimes the legislature merely reacts, and there are unintended consequences."

Many at the meeting expressed disbelief that the Middletown Health Department was so determined to uphold the statute, in an across-the-board consistent manner, and they were alternately angry and saddened by this enforcement.

"If they're going to try to be consistent about it," said Reverend John Hall of First Church. "Then they're going to have to shut down all the church coffee hours, the Shepard Home, the Christmas dinners served by the churches."

The Reverend Cocomo Rock explained that at low point in his life, he sought out sustenance from a charitable organization.

"Had it not been for a local church I wouldn't have been able to eat," he said passionately. "Unless I ate in a jail, or a hospital, or I ate something I stole. Or from a garbage can."

"There are no licensed dumpsters," Livingston said. "We don't want people to eat from unlicensed kitchens, but they can eat from dumpsters. Everyone of us who is lucky enough to have a home eats out of an unlicensed kitchen every day."

"I think it's ironic that the policy over the past several years has been to cut back on the state and city sponsored projects, and rely on churches and people of faith to take up these programs, and now we've come to this," said Juan Figueroa, of the Universal Health Project.

Much of the meeting was given over to a discussion of strategies to change the law, and simultaneously prevent any organization which helps to feed the hungry from being prevented from doing so.

"We must remember that winter is coming and that the economy is getting further depressed, and that means more hunger, so we can't stop," said Bishop William McKissick of the New Jerusalem Church. "I'd love to lead the charge and serve people food and say 'Come and arrest me," but it's the hungry kid that worries me. There will be hunger. This is not about that, it's about a law that's stupid."

"It's absurd," said real estate developer and former director of St. Vincent dePaul Soup Kitchen Peter Harding. "We're going to hesitate to feed people? That's bull."

The group agreed to address the problem by immediately contacting state legislators to push through the change during this special session. In addition, Community Health Center CEO, Mark Masselli urged the group to approach the mayor, the majority leader and the Common Council of Middletown to make adjustment to the ordinance and the enforcement. Republican Council member David Bauer has drafted a Council resolution, but it is still being considered by the city's Health Commission

CDGB Block Grant Recipient List Sent Back to Committee

When Ron Krom, director of the St. Vincent dePaul Place and the Amazing Grace Food Pantry, stood to address the Common Council Monday he admitted he was stunned. After a dozen years of steady funding through the Federal Block grants (known as CDBG - Community Development Block Grants), he discovered that the committee considering the grants had left his organizations off the list.

"In this year when we're experiencing more need, than ever, we're not being funded," Krom told the Council. "We have more need, more people coming for meals and food, more food to get out, and we're getting cut out."

It turns out that Krom was not the only important and well-used program to be left out.

When queried as to why the funding was not in place, Michiel Wackers of the Planning, Conservation and Development Department explained that $100,000 of the funding, which formerly went to community organizations, was being diverted to the Planning Department for code enforcement, and would pay for the salaries of enforcement officers.

After hearing an amendment proposed by Council member Grady Faulkner, trimming the proposed grants to some organizations, and providing money for Amazing Grace, Council member Gerry Daley proposed that the list be sent back to committee for re-consideration, including planning for $110,000 in stimulus funds promised in a second round of grants to the city.

EDITORIAL COMMENTARY: In another strange food security irony, if the CDGB grant list had passed, there would be less money in town to feed the hungry, but more money to enforce violations of the code, as in the case of the alleged Food Not Bombs violation. Council member James Streeto quipped that the CDGB list should include "a kitchen for Food Not Bombs" to help prevent any future controversy.

The Council also spent an hour debating whether it could hire an attorney to advise it in legal matters concerning union concessions to the city, and the refusal of the Board of Education to be governed by the concessions. In short, the Board of Education hired an attorney to fight the city's request to furlough city-paid employees on the Board of Education staff. The Council wanted to hire another outside lawyer to guide them in their budget deliberations as regards the letter sent by the Board of Education lawyer. The Republican Council members claimd they were not advised about the hiring of a lawyer to represent the Council. In the end, the mayor, the city attorney and the Council members agreed that hiring an outside attorney would be advisable if the attorney represented the interests of the City of Middletown, and not merely the interests of the Common Council.

The Council was informed that city funds were available to pay the approximate $7500 fee for the outside attorney. Upon learning this, Democratic Council members withdrew a resolution requesting the money to hire the attorney.

Most items on the agenda were of the "nuts and bolts" nature, including resolutions to allow the mayor to apply for a LoCIP (Local Capital Improvement) grant for $35,000 to repair the Riverview Center Parking Garage, and resolutions to approve fees for Childrens Arts programs and to approve hours of operation at city parks. The council also passed city support for the Not Your Typical 5K road race, though funding was capped at $5,000 at the suggestion of Council member Ron Klattenberg, which is half of what was originally sought. Motorcycle Mania also received the support of the Council at it's original funding number of $10,000.

Two resolutions submitted by Republican Council member David Bauer, one to create an IT (information technology) oversight committee, and one to create a Commission on Physical Plant were voted down along party lines, and roundly denounced by his Democratic colleagues.
Council member Ron Klattenberg noted that the resolution to create the commissions were without specific goals, and that the duties of the proposed commissions could be handled by already-created bodies. Council member Daley called the proposed commissions "superfluous."

Bauer defended his proposals as being a needed remedy for a fragmented and costly IT environment in the city with the city, and the Board of Ed supporting separate and different systems. As for the Physical Plant Commission he noted that it would help improve government transparency.

Klattenberg countered that Bauer was avoiding addressing the real problem - a Board of Education which refused to cooperate with the city through consolidation.

"If you see a problem that needs fixing, create a task force and fix it," Klattenberg suggested. "Just do it."

That's a lot of Peanut Butter

I was reading Michael Roth's blog at Wesleyan this morning and saw that Wesleyan students did a fundraiser for the Amazing Grace Food Pantry, with a whopping total of $11,000 in food.

Wow.

I talked to Ron Krom, the director of Amazing Grace Food Pantry (and the St. Vincent de Paul Soup Kitchen), and learned a little more about the donation. He said this ranks as one of the 2 or 3 biggest donations of food that they will receive during the year. This donation is a little different than a regular food drive. Instead of donating cans of food, the students fasted for one day and donated the cost of that day's meals directly from their student accounts -- so Amazing Grace can now use those funds to purchase food -- at distributor prices, not at retail -- from the Weshop. This means that the pantry can decide when and what they need -- if they're a little short on Peanut Butter one month, they can just order it from Weshop.

I learned a little more about the food pantry's operations from Ron. Currently there are about 660 families that come once a month to get food from Amazing Grace (which is up 10% from this time last year). That adds up to about 1000 adults, 500 children, and 200 seniors every month.   Each household can get 3 days worth of food -- breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  Amazing Grace gets about half of their food supplies from the CT Food Bank, a centralized food pantry that distributes throughout New Haven and Middlesex Counties. And they get the other half through a program that they developed called "Families Feeding Families". This effort pools the food donations of churches, businesses, social clubs -- you name it -- who pledge to donate a certain amount of certain staple items each month. (At South Church we call ourselves "The Tunafish Church" -- we commit to donating at least 100 cans a month.) This smart program, which maximizes the impact of the community's generosity, is coordinated by the always-involved -citizen-volunteers Nancy Meyer and Mimi Rich.

Ron was just blown away by how much the Wesleyan fundraiser grew from its first year -- when it brought in $4,400 in food.   He talked about how moving it was to join hundreds of students as they broke the fast at the Usdan Center, with a line stretching out of the building, and how he then got the chance to talk to them about hunger and homelessness in Middletown.  This has already brought some new Wes volunteers into his organization.  

The idea for the fundraiser came to Wesleyan through a student, Nadeem Modan, class of 2010.  The "Fast-a-thon" coincides with Ramadan, the traditional Muslim month-long fast, and the fundraiser was an interfaith event that involved students and staff of all religions (or none at all.) Nadeem should be proud -- he did a wonderful thing for all the people who will be fed by Amazing Grace, and for those of us who are inspired by his vision!

If you know of a group that might like to make monthly contributions to Amazing Grace's "Families Feeding Families" program, you can email Ron at ron.krom@sbcglobal.net.