Cars lined on Butler Street for food pickup.
A crew showed up at a Shelton Avenue church not to chant prayers or hear a sermon — but to help a community stay fed and protected during a particularly tough stretch of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
The occasion was a combination Covid 19 vaccine pop-up clinic as well as a food giveaway held Saturday at Breakthrough Church, just over the New Haven line in southern Hamden.
The goal of the Saturday event at the church was “one-stop shopping,” in the words of Robin Moody-Davis, marketing and outreach coordinator at Cornell Scott-Hill.
Hill Health organized the mobile vaccination clinic at the church in partnership with the Community Alliance for Research and Engagement (CARE) and Breakthrough Church.
Amid a pandemic surge fueled by the Omicron variant, “shoppers” had a full range of choices: Moderna. Pfizer. Johnson & Johnson. Boosters, pediatric shots, and flu shots were also available.
Bags of food awaiting families walking in.
Meanwhile, the church also hosted a food pantry giveaway, drawing walk-ins as well as drivers lined up outside.
In a warehouse-sized area beside the mobile clinic, volunteers were packing bags with groceries for the food pantry, which the church offers twice a month. There’s also a soup kitchen on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.
Across the space were more tables loaded with boxes and bags of meats and vegetables for the drive-through pickup.
Pastor Joseph and Stephanie Carr.
“We’re seeing an increase in need right now,” said Stephanie Carr, wife of church pastor Joseph Carr. “There’s the omicron, and people are out of work.” The expiration of the newly increased federal child tax credit in late December is another reason: “That comes out of their budgets.”
As for the vaccines, “it’s a personal decision,” Carr said. “We let them decide, but we also want to keep our community safe so we use opportunities like this to make it easier if they decide they want it.”
“Our walk-ups come in here, and they grab their food,” said Carr. “You don’t have to sign up, no ID required, all free.”
“It’s been our mission here since 2015 to meet the needs of our community, so anything we can do, anyone we can partner with to make that happen, we’re going to do,” Carr said.
CARE Outreach Coordinator Valerie Lane with Cornell Scott Hill Health's Robin Moody-Davis at Saturday's event.
The mobile vaccination pop-up, meanwhile, was the latest in a series of community-based events Hill Health has staged throughout the pandemic with community groups.
“We’ve been to Newhallville, to Dixwell, to City Point, the Hill, Westville, West Rock, and Hamden,” said Moody-Davis, seated behind a table with Valerie Lane, a CARE outreach worker.
Representatives from Cornell Scott-Hill and CARE spread word of the events through social media, as well as “saturating the area with flyers,” Moody-Davis said.
“Our job is not to convince,” she said, as a couple, bundled in down coats on the bone-chilling day, pushed through the double doors. “Our job is to educate.”
“The most important thing we try to do is let people express themselves as to what they’re feeling and why. Then you get a feel for what’s important to them, whether it’s their children, their job, their health, their parents,” she said.
“If someone says they’re hesitant because they’ve heard the vaccines plant a chip in people, a microchip, I tell them I’ve got the vaccine, I’ve got the booster, I’ve been doing this for two years. I don’t know anyone that has a chip.”
Lane, a member of the Breakthrough Church, said another function of the mobile events has been easier access.
“Some people don’t have the transportation to get there or, like a lot of this congregation, are elderly, or just feel more comfortable going to a community event than a doctor’s office,” she said.
Across the room, a boy cried out.
“I was scared too,” a nurse told him. “It’s okay. It’s really okay.”
Kesheonia Jones and son at the clinic.
At the registration table, a nurse was asking Kesheonia Jones about the vaccine status of her son. Both are members of the church.
“I want to make sure he’s protected, and coming here, it causes less anxiety for everyone,” Jones said.
Pastor Joseph Carr: A broad mission.
“This is all about helping people in their time of need,” Carr said, peering outside at the long line of cars waiting to pick up their food. “That’s our motto, our model, our mission.”
At 7 pm on Wednesday, Jan. 26, CARE will present a webinar, “The Buzz about Boosters,” an informational session on the latest about Covid and flu shots, featuring Dr. Jacinda Abdul-Mutakabbir of Loma Linda University.
To register, email [email protected] or visit CARE on Facebook. A pre-sketched canvas and paint supplies will be mailed to the first 50 people registered.
Thank you to Breakthrough Church, Cornell Scott-Hill Health center, and Community Alliance for Research and Engagement (CARE) for helping the community get vaccinated for flu and COVID, and for providing food for those who need it with food pantry giveaways and a soup kitchen, and listening to those who need reassurance and a caring ear.
When I was a child my family was on welfare and we depended on the Hill Health Center for our medical and dental care and they were always so very nice and patient with three little rambunctious kids who were afraid of the needles used for blood draws and vaccines at the doctor’s office. It is organizations like these that provide invaluable resources for the people who are struggling to get by.