Maya McFadden photos
Sabrina Gibbs with daughters Xora and Nova.
Alder Smith greets Stetson Librarian Diane Brown.
Sabrina Gibbs and her two daughters Xora and Nova got a slice of their new neighborhood — and a slice or two of pumpkin pie — at a reborn West Hills community center’s inaugural “Our Table” Thanksgiving dinner.
That free-food-and-community-building fest took place on Wednesday at the Shack at 333 Valley St.
Gibbs was one of dozens of families that joined the inaugural just-before-Thanksgiving feast.
The event brought together West Hills and Westville residents to enjoy a holiday dinner with their neighbors and community advocates.
West Rock/West Hills Alder Honda Smith and Amity/Westville Alder and Majority Leader Richard Furlow partnered with first responders, the Firebird Society of New Haven Inc. and the New Haven Guardians, all of whom volunteered their time to cook the celebration’s food and serve the neighborhood on Wednesday.
The event required residents to wear masks upon entering the building and to sit at socially distanced tables with their families. Each table was equipped with its own bottle of hand sanitizer.
President of the Firebirds Ernest Jones partnered with Smith to host the inaugural event after deciding that the Black firefighter organization wanted to shift from their old tradition of handing out turkeys on the holiday.
“We wanted to do something different, intimate, meaningful,” Jones said.
Jones added that due to the recent years of isolation and distancing during Covid, the organization hopes to reverse the long-term loneliness that many have felt during the pandemic.
Sabrina Gibbs feeds Xora.
Dozens of dining tables allowed families to eat their meals as a family while in the company of their neighbors and community. Families joined at tables with wooded signage reading “Grateful” in the center’s entertainment and senior rooms.
Gibbs sat with her daughters Nova, 8, and Xora, 2, sharing their first Thanksgiving meal as West Rock residents. Gibbs moved from Newhallville to the far westside neighborhood this summer. She was encouraged by neighbors to visit the Shack and meet her new alder, Honda Smith.
While enjoying her food and designing men and women’s clothing on her phone, Nova told her mom that she wants to come to the Shack every day.
Cecelia Brown, CJ Clark, Laila Clark, and Tonya Clark.
Mother of two Tonya Clark enjoyed a hot Thanksgiving dinner with her kids Laila and CJ Clark and her mother-in-law Cecelia Brown.
“This feels really, really good,” Tonya said.
They described sitting with family and fellow community members on Wednesday as both joyful and filling. That applied to the food served at the feast, as well.
To celebrate Thanksgiving on Thursday, the family said they would eat at Cracker Barrel together. They listed off things they’re grateful for, including being alive, having family, and having friends.
Tony Hanson, Shelley Quiala, Hunter Hanson, and John Quiala.
Shelley Quiala joined her husband Tony Hanson and two sons Hunter Hanson, 8, and John Quiala, 15, for a Shack dinner.
“This is the best way to celebrate,” Shelley said.
Shelley said she has been following Smith’s work building up the Shack with the community since the start and was looking to help contribute in any way she could. For the Wednesday gathering, she made by hand dozens of center pieces for the event’s tables.
“This is a place to build community,” Shelley said of the Shack. “It’s multigenerational and you know you’re welcome.”
Shelley added that the community holiday gathering was “much needed” after the height of the Covid pandemic.
“The community needs a place that isn’t designed for selling something and inspires agency all in one place. That’s what Honda inspires,” she said. “This is something that’s ours and we don’t have to wait for someone to give it to us.”
City youth specialist Ron Huggins joined the event Wednesday to serve the community his homemade pasta salad.
Huggins added that the holiday’s celebrations for him have changed since he lost both of his parents. He said cooking and being with the community Wednesday was a great way to celebrate for him and others who have also lost family.
“Love is no good until you give it away,” he recalled his mother telling him. Huggins also handed out four free tickets to an upcoming show at the Oakdale Theatre.
He added that Wednesday’s community event helped to portray first responders as humans and created “equal playing grounds” for law enforcement and the community to be seen as human beings.
“She speaks the language of the youth,” he added about Smith.
De’aryah Nelson, Taleah Barros, and Derrick Nelson.
Board of Alders President Tyisha Walker-Myers hosts a dance party outside the center.
Other attendees included 13-year-old Taleah Barros who brought her two younger cousins, Derrick, 9, and De’aryah, 7, to the Wednesday dinner. Barros visits the Shack daily for her two favorite things: “Snacks and Ms. Honda.”
Barros described Smith as a mother figure who she can trust and respect. She said she comes straight to the Shack after school and only leaves throughout the day to go get her other neighborhood friends and bring them to the community center.
“If I wasn’t here I would probably be asleep or getting in trouble,” she said.
While at the center Smith has youth like Barros read books to get snacks while also providing homework help and time to have fun. Barros said she usually likes to make dancing TikTok’s with Smith and her friends.
Derrick added that “I like everything about this place.”
Event leaders Police Sgt. Cherelle Carr, Firebird Ernest Jones, and Honda Smith.
Richard Furlow added that the Wednesday event aimed to “ease people during hard times” and to reconnect the community. “What better way to reconnect than over food,” he said.
Furlow spent Wednesday evening making deliveries of hot plates to residents in Westville and senior homes like Mountain Valley Place.
After the afternoon of eating, the Shack’s youth ambassador Jordan Cunningham challenged firefighter Chris Q. to a pool game. Jordan won.
Shack volunteer Monica Clark said after recovering from a shoulder surgery she began volunteering at the community center. She said after being out for work a year due to the surgery she felt the Shack “gave me life again.”
Clark, who grew up in Church Street South, said she watched her mother dedicate her life to serving her community much like Smith and is inspired by them both.
She recalled going to the Hill’s Barbell Club in her youth and said the Shack is bringing that safe and community-oriented atmosphere to the neighborhood.
Fire and Police support at event Wednesday.
At the end of the event, volunteers packed up the left over food and delivered it to the Upon This Rock Ministries warming center.
“This is what the Shack and community is suppose to look like,” Smith said at the end of the event.
She added that she hopes neighbors and city officials “catch on to the vision of community.”
“When you work together you get a lot of stuff done,” Smith said.