RABHYA MEHROTRA PHOTO
Monk, with his truck of food on Tuesday
“I’m planning on giving this to over 200 veterans,” said Conley Monk Jr (pictured), a Vietnam War veteran who served in the Marine Corps.
Monk said that at a food drive he attended that was hosted by the Kingdom International Economic Development Corporation Tuesday morning in the Hill.
A truck blared in the background, loading milk and food into Monk’s truck.
Monk grew up in New Haven, right on Cedar Street in a “military family,” he said. His father and uncle fought in Normandy during World War Two and all of his siblings (nine, including him) also fought for the US.
After coming back from Vietnam, Monk founded the National Veterans Council for Legal Redress. “We help fellow veterans with all kinds of things – food, PPE, money, disability claims,” he explained. “There are still veterans in the New Haven area who are experiencing homelessness and hunger. I’m going to go and give this food to them.”
“This is the first time we’ve been able to reach veterans, which is fantastic” said Metashar Dillon, who organized the drive (you can read about one last week here.) “That’s the benefit of community partners.”
The crew, enjoying a quick lunch
The food drive was located in the Hill by John C. Daniels School on Congress Avenue.
Although set to take place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday, people came fast – the food was gone by 12:30.
Several politicians, including Mayor Justin Elicker, Board of Alders President Tyisha Walker-Myers, Hill Alders Ron Hurt, Carmen Rodriguez, Kampton Singh, and Evelyn Rodriguez, Beaver Hill Alder Jill Marks, and Board of Alders Majority Leader Richard Furlow, were present.
“I have to really commend the Mayor,” said Dillon. “We’ll be meeting soon to discuss how he can help maintain our supply of food. He’s leading the charge in Connecticut cities to feed our people.”
Dillon was referring to the USDA Farmers to Families Program, which provided food boxes for the drive. The program is set to expire on October 31, but “we’ve packed our own boxes before, and the Mayor’s offering to help,” Dillon said. “We can do it again.”
“Covid has been difficult for people, especially here in the Hill,” said Alder Hurt. He said many of his constituents have come to him asking for help to get food for them and their families. “Giving food means there’s some hope, at least for a few more days.”
“Like A Village”
“I love the Hill because it’s like a village, you know? Not just my mom and dad raising me, but this neighborhood raising me,” said Lopez Jones. He pointed to a red brick building. “I grew up actually right in that apartment there.”
Jones had experienced trouble finding food “here and there.” By the time he reached Tuesday’s food drive, however, there was only milk left.
Jones planned to share the milk with his mother, who is currently raising two children — Lucas, who is 8 and Jeremiah, who is 14. “They’re good kids, and I like to serve as the big brother, you know?”
Meanwhile, Jason Geslien (pictured) said he had recently moved to the area. He has been experiencing homelessness for the past four years, he said, and someone was helping him rent a room in the Hill.
“It’s so difficult to get back on food stamps here, because it’s all through the phone. I have to sit on the phone for two hours, and I don’t even have a phone,” he said. “I’m really grateful for this food. Probably one of the greatest things that’s happened down here in a while.”
“Desperate Times”
Sample food boxes
Others, however, did not have such a positive experience. A group of three homeless people (two men and one woman) came by, asking for boxes of food. “This was the second time they came,” said Dillon. “They went around the corner, dropped their boxes off, and came back again.”
The group began to ask various volunteers where to get food, expressing frustration. “It’s one box per family,” replied a volunteer. “We have to serve everyone.” The situation escalated quickly. One homeless man began to curse at the volunteers. Another volunteer told them to leave, telling them “to be grateful for the food.”
“I’m sorry,” he said later. “I just get upset when people try to do this.”
“It’s a really difficult situation,” said Alder Hurt, referring to the interaction. “We do have homeless people in the community who face problems with addiction and other mental health issues.”
“They’re just gonna ravage through the boxes and pick out what they want,” said Dillon. “It’s so frustrating, because other families could have been helped.” The homeless people refused to be interviewed and left the scene quickly.
“We know that desperate times lead to desperate measures, but we want to help everyone, so we don’t try to get into the dynamics of that,” said Dillon. She added that these situations are rare. “We’ve been hosting these events since the beginning of October, and this is the second incident like this that’s happened.”
When asked if volunteers have training on how to deal with difficult situations, Dillon mentioned that she gathers the volunteers before the event. She first goes through Covid-19 training, reminding volunteers to wear masks and switch gloves. Then, she emphasizes that they should respect those who come for food.
“If I see a situation and I can’t train that volunteer right there, I step in and say, ‘I got this,’” she said. “A lot of people come from the church to help, but they still need some training,” she added with a small smile.
Another volunteer, who preferred to be anonymous, spoke up. “You know, with African American communities, the media often paints us in a certain light. Today, we’re taking care of our community, but that’s nothing new,” he said. “Those people who came were clearly in need, but so is everyone else. It’s not us causing this, but we take the hit for this. We’re not perfect, but nobody is.”
At the end of the drive, all of the food had been distributed: 24 pallets, with 64 boxes each.