Nora Grace-Flood File Photo
Resident Suki Godek outside her Catholic Worker House "tiny" home.
Nora Grace-Flood file photo
At DESK's drop-in center.
The following release was submitted by the Wessel Fund:
The Downtown Evening Soup Kitchen and Amistad Catholic Worker are this year’s recipients of the Unsung Heroes Award from the Irmgard and Morris Wessel Fund.
“We know the fundamental drivers of homelessness include an inadequate supply of affordable housing, the persistence of poverty, and inadequate mental health services,” Irmgard and Morris’ children — David, Bruce, Paul and Lois — said. “But the unhoused can’t wait. This year’s awards celebrate the efforts of New Haveners’ working to assist the unhoused today.”
The Downtown Evening Soup Kitchen (DESK), originally a program of Downtown Cooperative Ministry formed in response to homelessness on the Green, has been an independent non-profit since 1989. It operates a drop-in center in its own, newly renovated building at 226 State St. in December 2024. DESK provides hot meals seven days a week, a food pantry, a washer-dryer, health care, and connections to services offered to the unhoused. Irm Wessel was a frequent volunteer at the soup kitchen, particularly on holidays.
Amistad Catholic Worker, based in the Hill, is a community of faith that seeks justice for the poor, an end to all wars, and a new way of life based on solidarity, nonviolence, and mutual love. Amistad recently built six tiny houses to provide shelter for those who had been living in tents. As of December, there were 14 people living in the units, each of which is less than 100-square-feet.
Since 1993, the Wessel Fund has given out the award to New Haveners committed to the medical, social, psychological, economic or educational support of local residents in need. Morris Wessel (1917 – 2016) was a popular pediatrician in New Haven for 42 years. The Fund was launched when he retired. Irmgard Wessel (1925 – 2014), an immigrant from Nazi Germany, was a clinical social worker. Both were activists committed to improving the lives of New Haveners.
Past recipients of the Wessel Prize include, Collective Consciousness Theatre (Dexter Singleton), Junta at Big Turtle Village (Rafael Ramos), Solar Youth(Joanne Sciulli), Karen DelVecchio, Donna Savia, St. Martin dePorres Academy(Mary Surowiekci), Bikes for Babes (Dan Perrotto), Grandparents on the Move, the Connecticut Health Policy Project, the Mob Squad (Al Shakir), The Natural Guard, the Inner City Bicycle Program (David Clough), The Cesar Jerez Catholic Worker House, and Leg Up (Anne Gallant). Also, Dan Kinsman, music instructor at Fair Haven School; Raymond Wallace, founder of the Guns Down, Books Up organization, the Immigrant Bail Fund, Doreen Abubaker of Community Placemaking and Engagement Network, and Music Haven, which brings music to local youth.
The Wessel Fund this year made a special contribution to Integrated Refugee & Immigrant Services (IRIS) to support its work with refugees at a time when the federal government is curtailing its grants. IRIS is a previous recipient of the Unsung Heroes Award.