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10/19/2023 05:15 AM‘When you stop looking at unhoused people as a problem and start looking at them as neighbors, everything changes’
New Haven’s Rosette Neighborhood Village has been able to buy six tiny homes to house people who had been living in tents–now the challenge is to keep those newly housed folks warm all winter.
Home for the Holidays, a brunch fundraiser in North Branford, will raise support for ongoing expenses–including utilities–to sustain the community long-term. The event will take place at Zion Episcopal Church, 326 Notch Hill Road, on Saturday, Nov. 11, at 11 a.m. Tickets are $50, with all proceeds going to Rosette Neighborhood Village.
Zion Episcopal is a longtime supporter of Amistad Catholic Worker, which provided land and other support for Rosette. “We are so proud to partner in this event,” said the Rev. Lucy LaRocca, pastor. “The love of Christ was never meant to be confined inside a church–but to be spread joyously throughout the community.”
The brunch will feature a wide-ranging menu that includes mini chocolate babka, poached salmon, vegan French toast, rose-scented fruit salad, Moroccan chicken, carrot cake, flourless chocolate torte, and more. People living at the village and organizers of the effort will share their stories. Each family attending will get an autographed copy of Broke in America: Seeing, Understanding, and Ending U.S. Poverty, by Joanne Samuel Goldblum and Colleen Shaddox, who are helping to organize the event.
Rosette Neighborhood Village serves as a new model for addressing homelessness by focusing on dignity, safety, and community. People who live in the tiny houses will participate in Amistad’s work of hospitality by organizing a free breakfast program for the wider neighborhood.
“When you stop looking at unhoused people as a problem and start looking at them as neighbors, everything changes,” said Mark Colville of Amistad House. “Rosette Neighborhood Village is full of people who have a great deal to offer and want to contribute to their community.” For more information about the initiative there, visit www.zip06.com/living/20230503/yes-in-my-backyard/.
Tickets to Home for the Holidays may be purchased here: home-for-the-holidays-rosette.eventbrite.com.