“Person-to-Person: Creating Economic Stability for Vulnerable Residents During the Pandemic.”
Nancy Coughlin, CEO of Person-to-Person, and Juri Garone, Manager of Volunteers & Community Relations, will be speaking to us about the organization and its mission. They will discuss food insecurity and poverty issues in Fairfield County and how P2P is addressing them. Additionally, they will talk about the role of volunteers and how the community helps P2P meet its mission, and suggest ways people can get involved.
Nancy Coughlin joined Person-to-Person in June of 2019, bringing expertise and experience in food insecurity, anti-poverty, and women’s and children’s issues. Prior to joining P2P, Nancy served for seven years as the Executive Director at Neighbor to Neighbor, a Greenwich-based organization dedicated to providing food and clothing to low-income families and children. She began her career in human services as an advocate for battered women and their children, and later practiced law in civil and employment litigation at Baker McKenzie. Ms. Coughlin received a BA in psychology from the University of New Hampshire, and a J.D. from Suffolk University Law School. She resides with her husband and four children in Darien, where she co-founded the annual July 4th “Push-n-Pull Parade” and was active in her children’s schools.
Juri Garone joined Person-to-Person as Manager of Volunteers and Community Relations to recruit volunteers for the local non-profit. Before starting with P2P last September, Juri worked in the Library Learning Commons at Weston High School for 7 years. She spent a decade in broadcast journalism, working as an Emmy Award-winning television news anchor and reporter in Westchester, New York and Bergen County, New Jersey. She has won numerous television industry awards from the Associated Press and the Society of Professional Journalists among others. Juri and her husband, Christopher have two children, Lilly and Renzo, and a dog named Luna. They live in Weston.
Arranged by Bryan Hooper
Bryan’s notes from the talk:
Nancy Coughlin, CEO, and Juri Garone, Manager of Volunteers and Community Relations, spoke to us on the operations of Person-to-Person and how the novel coronavirus has forced them to adapt to new conditions to manage fulfilling the mission.
P2P was founded over 50 years ago by the director of St. Luke’s parish in Darien following the assassination of Martin Luther King, and was intended as a commitment to enhance understanding of civil rights issues and to respond to the needs of the less economically fortunate members of the community. It was originally established to provide food and clothing (and, according to DMA member Bob Baker, not heavy furniture!) to low income people, but has since expanded its remit over the years to include financial assistance to needy families, scholarship and mentorship to aid students to obtain better and higher education, and camperships to help children attend camp during the summer months. Additionally, it has expanded geographically beyond Darien and Stamford to include Norwalk, New Canaan, Weston, Wilton and Westport. There are over 4000 volunteers helping P2P complete its tasks.
The arrival of the virus and the attendant shutdown of many activities in Connecticut created severe problems. Unemployment in the State hit 19% and demand for P2P food services doubled; 90% of P2P volunteers were forced to stay home; and social distancing standards made it impossible to operate meals-on-wheels service. Also, the price of healthy fruits and vegetables rose 10% forcing some families to switch to less healthy carbohydrates, corn-based products and other processed products. Food banks ran out of food as surplus supplies from groceries and other sources diminished, and packaged goods that became available due to lower restaurant food demand had to be re-packaged into smaller sizes.
In the face of these multiple challenges, the response from P2P has been remarkable:
- 180,000 meals, with 9000 people being fed per month
- Financial assistance to needy families has doubled
- Four times as much rental assistance provided compared to last year
In the 2020-2021 period, P2P expects to provide almost $1 million in financial aid; one-third of those now seeking financial support have never been to P2P before.
P2P, at this critical time, has been engaged in a dedicated effort to prevent people from becoming homeless. In this context, the immediate future presents a continuing threat, particularly the potential wave of evictions expected this fall, the inevitable dispersion of many needy families to other geographic areas and the consequential loss of P2P’s contacts with these families. Much uncertainty remains regarding a return to normalcy and P2P still needs volunteers to help with its Door2Door food delivery service, and, of course, more money to meet the increased expenses. Door2Door provides contactless food deliveries to 3500 clients.
Here are the slides used in the presentation: Person-to-Person 2020 for DMA 7.15.20
Video of their presentation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSSsH-2EqLs