Downtown Evening Soup Kitchen

06/16/2026

Thanks to the APT Foundation, all DESK staff are trained in Basic Life Support, along with our dear friend Charmain Yun from Christian Community Action, Inc.! Read all about it here: https://deskct.org/bls.

06/15/2026

Join our friends and us at Anchor Spa tomorrow night as they celebrate their 10 Year Anniversary! A portion of the proceeds will go directly to DESK. RSVP at deskct.org/anchor!

06/08/2026

DESK's Drop-in and Resource Center sees 1,500 guests who will visit 17,500 times each year, meaning our staff is often the first response before first responders are able to arrive. Learn how a new defibrillator generously donated by Guilford's Defibtech will make our response stronger at deskct.org/defibtech

06/01/2026

We need your support right now!

Several shifts this week are totally empty - we need YOU, New Haven, to keep our Drop-in and Resource Center running! 💙💙

Sign up at deskct.org/volunteer

Can't make it? Share with your network!

Help us SAVE OUR SHIFT! Cafe volunteers are needed all summer long to help us serve coffee and snacks to our guests ☕🍪 sign up at deskct.org/volunteer

Can't make it? Send this to your friends!

05/29/2026

🎉 Big news for food security in New Haven!

We're proud to share that the City of New Haven has committed $350,000 to support community-based food assistance programs in its FY 2026–2027 budget — passed by the Board of Alders on May 26.

This funding will go directly to work that matters: stocking local pantries and soup kitchens with healthy food, supporting school break grocery distributions for New Haven families, expanding SNAP outreach, and improving infrastructure so our member organizations can serve more people with dignity.

None of this would have been possible without YOU — the dozens of community members who testified, wrote letters, and called their Alders. Your voices were heard.

CFAN is deeply grateful to Mayor Justin Elicker for championing this allocation, and to Board of Alders President Tyisha Walker-Myers, Finance Committee Chair Adam Marchand, Co-Chair Sal Punzo, and the full Board of Alders for their leadership and compassion throughout this process.

Together, we're building a more just and equitable food system in Greater New Haven. 💖

05/27/2026

It’s graduation season! DESK’s very own Claudette Kidd graduated from the Nonprofit Management for Emerging Leaders of Color program. Congratulations, Claudette! Read more at deskct.org/claudettegrad

05/21/2026

When DESK staff and Board members aren't connecting clients to resources, serving dinner, and building relationships in the community, they're staying up-to-date on best practices and developing new ways to provide better services in fulfillment of DESK's mission. Yesterday, DESK staff attended the Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness Annual Training Institute in Hartford! DESK Board members, Cailin Ryus and Alexis Terry, presented preliminary findings of their study on the relationship between types of emergency shelter and engagement in healthcare and mental health services. Thanks to partnerships statewide, we can learn from other providers and share insights and successes from DESK's programs 💙

05/18/2026

Help us SAVE OUR SHIFT! Cafe volunteers are needed all summer long to help us serve coffee and snacks to our guests ☕🍪 sign up at deskct.org/volunteer

Can't make it? Send this to your friends!

05/14/2026

Grateful to have worked with the talented team of graphic design students, Gian, Deyondre, and Alanah, at this semester! They helped us create a branding guide and draft next year's Annual Report to help us better communicate our impact in New Haven 💙

05/13/2026

On April 30, DESK volunteers joined CFAN to testify before the Board of Alders, urging the city to restore funding for food assistance. Yesterday, Mayor Elicker proposed a $350,000 amendment to support CFAN. The Finance Committee will consider it on Thursday, with the full Board voting later this month. We're encouraged by this progress and will monitor to ensure it passes by June 1. DESK believes feeding neighbors isn't charity but a community responsibility that the City of New Haven should share. We hope all officials agree!