By Marina Marmolejo In the spring of 2018, DESK partnered with the Yale School of Public Health’s Practice-based Community Health Research Practicum.  The goal was to measure DESK’s nutritional standards against both national best-practices and client-choice, i.e., what our Guests want, and then to make recommendations on how we can improve what we do.  What the students learned though, extended …

By Kaitlyn Sabin Katie Sabin graduated from Yale College this May.  For the past four years, she volunteered with the Yale Hunger Heroes (now known as “Yale Community Kitchen”), a group that serves in partnership with Downtown Evening Soup Kitchen.  As one of the Hunger Heroes Coordinators, Katie has also served as an ex officio Honorary Board Member at DESK, …

By Stephan Sveshnikov As a way to way to highlight DESK’s guests and their stories, we’ve invited Yale undergraduate students to interview some of our folks at dinner and contribute short essays based on those interactions.  Our hope is not only to emphasize the human complexities behind hunger, poverty, and homelessness, but also to encourage two-way conversations between people who …

By Phil Costello As Clinical Director of Homeless Care for Cornell Scott-Hill Health Center, Phil Costello leads the medical team that works with people who are experiencing homelessness on a daily basis.  At DESK, Phil and his team are available on Wednesday nights to provide onsite services, including outreach, first aid, referrals, and prescriptions.  Phil also helps to coordinate other …

By Angela Lewis At DESK, we provide opportunities to learn about the social-service needs on-the-ground in New Haven, and so for years, we have welcomed Social Work students from Southern Connecticut State University to volunteer with us. Angela Lewis—a junior at Southern—first came to DESK to fulfill her required volunteer hours as part of her major, but soon found the …

by Reverend Kevin Ewing Rev. Ewing (or “RevKev,” as he’s known) is the Bridge Minister of Center Church on the Green, in whose parish house at 311 Temple Street DESK resides.  For two decades, the church has been our strongest supporter, offering a huge dining room, professional kitchen, ample storage space, full utilities, and (most critically) a welcoming and charitable …

By Lauren Bossi As one of DESK’s two interns this past summer, Lauren Bossi coordinated the Summer Kids’ Pantry program, an endeavor to supplement the diets for school-aged children during the summer months, when they don’t have access to school meals. This year, for the first time, DESK worked with the Housing Authority of New Haven (Elm City Communities) to …