The funds that support St. Mark’s Episcopal Church’s outreach program long have come primarily from one of New Canaan’s iconic and most treasured community events: May Fair.
Jenn Hladick is director of the Outreach Commission at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in New Canaan. The commission has launched ‘Doing Good,’ whose first effort is collecting up much-needed toiletries for Open Door Shelter in neighboring Norwalk. Contributed
The 500-plus volunteer effort to organize and operate May Fair is intense and weeks-long—so much so that many New Canaanites with typically demanding schedules are excluded from participating in the celebrated fundraiser, according to members of St. Mark’s Outreach Commission.
And according to one commission member, Miki Porta, many perfectly wonderful volunteer opportunities—such as giving a weekend day to help build a house somewhere in the county—are equally demanding of scarce available time.
To create a more accessible opportunity for those seeking to do good locally, the commission has launched a new initiative.
The new effort—called ‘Doing Good’—will deliver civic work projects that are “simple and fast and actually meet a need,” Porta said.
The first installment of Doing Good is a collection of toiletries for Norwalk’s Open Door Shelter (details on what’s needed below), serving the homeless and working poor.
“This is not another activity for the sake of an activity, but something where we can put a call out community wide,” Porta said. “We collect this very simple stuff that can make a big difference to other people and right on campus we can quietly sort it, pack it and then deliver it. It really isn’t a huge time investment on anyone’s part, even for those of us involved in the planning, so that is the beauty of it.”
The collection, at Morrill Hall at St. Mark’s, has been dubbed ‘Good Things Come in Small Packages.’
Jenn Hladick, director of the Outreach Commission, said Doing Good in some ways grew organically, as the group’s members regularly review grant proposals from nonprofit organizations and see opportunities for hands-on help.
“One thing we have always felt is important is for hands to follow the money,” Hladick said.
“My ideal is that someone has a great time doing a Doing Good project with us, and then sees an opportunity to do something similar and chooses to do it [volunteer] again,” she said.
Doing Good may especially be a point of entry to civic activity for young people, Hladick said.
“It’s a great opportunity for families to do something with their kids. I think a lot of families want to do this but it gets lost in all of the other busy things we do,” she said. “I feel like if we can do something worthwhile—not just the busy work but really help an organization out, and getting together and doing that—then we all as a group learn more about the issues that the organization is trying to address.”
Project ‘Good Things Come in Small Packages’ is operating now. Those wishing to help are encouraged to bring travel-sized toiletries (unopened hotel and cosmetic counter extras are OK, too) and deposit them in the box marked ‘Doing Good’ in Morrill Hall. Items most needed are:
- Disposable razor
- Toothbrushes
- Toothpaste
- Deodorant
- Bar soap
- Shampoo & conditioner
- Q-tips
- Band Aids
- Tissues
- Comb/brush
- Nail clippers