by Lisa Reisman The New Haven independent
Monya Saunders, clad in a witch’s hat, pulled into the parking lot of Life Haven women’s shelter in Fair Haven. All around were kids costumed as NASA astronauts, policemen, ballerinas, and princesses, and carrying orange buckets packed with candy.
“I’m here to support women who don’t have the money to buy their children outfits and treats,” said Saunders, popping her trunk and revealing a crate full of mini Kit Kats, Snickers, and Reese’s, as Tim Burton’s “This is Halloween” ominously boomed across the space in the crisp autumn air.
That was the scene at around 2:30 p.m. Saturday for the first annual “Communo-ween” Candy Giveaway. Saunders, a community health worker with Yale’s Transitions Clinic, is on the team of Marcus Harvin’s Newhallville Fresh Starts, which sponsored the event.
Since early 2024, Fresh Starts has been using the excess dining hall food of area universities to feed anyone in need based on its belief that the first step toward realizing one’s aspirations is nutritional sustenance. Among the area shelters and warming centers it provides meals is Life Haven, a 40-bed Ferry Street facility, which provides temporary shelter to homeless pregnant women and female heads of household with young children.
Marcus and Diamond Harvin.
Harvin’s wife Diamond came up with the idea of the giveaway. With Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits set to expire, “she wanted to do something for kids who might not have a Halloween experience, so this became an opportunity for us to show these women and children that every day, holiday, and in between, they are in the forefront of our minds,” Harvin said.
He told Derek Bacon, owner of Nolo, which has recently partnered with Fresh Starts with Friday pizza deliveries to Life Haven and West Haven’s Surfside Veterans, among others. “He had 12 pies ready for me earlier today,” Harvin said, as a young girl, sporting a crown, wandered through the lot, studiously sucking on a lollipop.
Communing with kids in the open trunk of a car beside a happy-looking green inflatable T Rex was Lisa Puglisi, a Yale School of Medicine internal medicine doctor and addiction specialist, as well as director of the Yale Transitions Clinic. She and Harvin met when he was a community health worker intern there. “She was here with a neighbor setting up when we got here,” Harvin said.
“We’re out of pepperoni,” Fresh Starts team member Adam Rawlings, a community specialist with Neighborhood Housing Services, was telling a ballerina at a picnic table. “Are you okay with cheese?” She nodded.
A car horn sounded on Ferry Street.
Monya Saunders with Lisa Puglisi.
“It’s simple,” said Saunders, joining Harvin and his wife. “Holidays separate the poor from the rich.” Life Haven’s clients are among those caught in the staggering increase in the number of families experiencing homelessness—up 41 percent since January 2024. Because Life Haven lacks the resources to meet the growing food insecurity its clients face, groups like Fresh Start help fill the gap. “We wanted to change that, wanted them to feel cared for.”
Miriam Walker. “Grateful.”
At that moment, Miriam Walker, a resident at Life Haven, approached them, smiling broadly.
“Today is a blessed day for all of us,” she said. “We are so grateful for what you do for us.”
Puglisi agreed.
“Kids dancing around and enjoying themselves at a party—what’s not to love?” she said, as a small girl with pink fairy wings chased a boy in a shark mask, squealing with delight.