What it does
To serve people experiencing homelessness or living in poverty by providing food assistance and services that promote health, community, and equity. The organization serves hot evening meals, packs free bag lunches, stocks food pantry bags, and maintains an emergency food bank for people in crisis.
Evening meals: desk serves dinner sunday through friday at their drop-in & resource center at 266 state street, and as part of their outreach efforts on the new haven green ("dinner-on-the-green") monday through thursday. Altogether, desk's dinner programs provided over 65,000 meals in fy25 to more than 1,800 unduplicated individuals.
Weekly food pantry:desk provides whole food items as part of the "olive street pantry" program at 57 olive street. This is executed as a partnership with loaves & fishes every wednesday from 1:30 to 3:00 pm. The program serves between 110 and 200 households per week, providing frozen meat, fresh produce, canned and dry goods, fresh bread, and toiletries, year-round. In fy25, the program served 2,679 households through 8,999 visits to the pantry.
Drop-in & resource center:located at 266 state street in new haven, the drc offers a day-program for unhoused individuals, providing a variety of basic needs, including food, clothing, toiletries, harm reduction supplies, first aid, bathrooms, computers, wifi, charging stations, and more, as well as additional onsite services to support housing needs, financial stability, and medical needs. In fy25 the program served 1,507 people through 17,523 visits.