by Lisa Reisman The New Haven independent
A Newhallville-based nonprofit with the aim to ensure no one goes hungry has expanded its reach — now serving meals twice a week to formerly homeless veterans and other residents of West Haven’s Surfside Apartments.
That’s the latest with Fresh Starts, an organization run by Marcus Harvin.
The most recent beneficiary of Fresh Starts, which uses food from the excess dining hall meals of area universities, is Surfside Apartments in West Haven. For the past three months, the group has been quietly serving upwards of 60 meals to veterans, some of them formerly homeless, as well as residents, each Monday and Friday.
Last Friday’s meal.
During a recent visit to the 254-unit public housing complex at 200 Oak St. last Friday, a man in a baseball cap that read Surfside Veteran wheeled himself across the potholed parking lot toward the SUV with the open trunk, where Harvin and Navy veteran Rich Deseo, head of Surfside Veterans and veteran liaison for the City of West Haven, awaited.
“Thank you for your service,” said Harvin, handing him a container with baked chicken, rice, and spinach under the sweltering sun. The Fresh Starts team had prepared the meals earlier that day in the basement kitchen of Pitts Chapel United Free Will Church on Brewster Street.
It’s been 18 months since the nonprofit was forced to pivot when the city shuttered the fReshtaurant, the community dining room at Pitts Chapel, for lack of a food service license. In that time, Harvin and his team have steadily increased distribution. Currently, they deliver upwards of 1,000 meals each week to, among other sites, Upon This Rock men’s shelter, Life Haven for homeless pregnant women and women with young children, and Portsea Place for homeless young adults, as well as Victory Gardens Apartments, the Martha’s Place, and the shelter at the former Days Inn Motel on Foxon Boulevard.
They’ve been able to reach those numbers thanks to the recovery of excess meals from the dining halls of Yale, the University of New Haven, and SCSU. Choate, a private high school in Wallingford, has recently signed on as well.
The reason for this bounty: the overproduction that happens when feeding thousands of people. Fresh Starts also gets donations from Haven’s Harvest, Cheshire Food Pantry, and La Cucina in North Branford, as well as 50 meals three days a week from the Community Soup Kitchen.
The container that Harvin handed the veteran, who asked that his name not be used, was reusable, part of the way Fresh Start has worked to streamline its shoestring operation over the past year and a half. “It saves us money and it’s better for the earth,” said Harvin, highlighting the organization’s vital need for funds to cover such essentials as pans, cutlery, and gas for the delivery van.
Harvin said his father, Marcus Carpenter, initiated the partnership. Carpenter, also known as DJ Marc Mecca, annually deejays the Veterans Bash at the Beach for Surfside veterans. He talked to Deseo about how they could involve his son’s nonprofit in serving the veterans.
“We asked ourselves, ‘If our mission is to ensure no one goes hungry, why should we stop at the New Haven border?’” Harvin recalled, as he handed a container to another Vietnam veteran.
It’s the same impulse that had Harvin, upon seeing there was need beyond the veterans at Surfside, expanding the reach to include the seniors and disabled individuals living there.
“I love it,” said Surfside resident Antonia Siedlarz, who came out early to collect meals for her and her children. “A lot of people here can’t afford food, so it’s a wonderful thing. And it’s freshly prepared and just delicious.”
Deseo said he’s arranged for a robo-call for Surfside residents to pick up meals in the lobby. “It’s really gained traction, and that’s almost all by word of mouth,” he said. His hope is to expand the service to other buildings.
“Every little bit helps,” he said, adding that any veteran in need should get in touch with him or Fresh Starts.
Harvin nodded. “Every little bit helps, and every meal we get to someone who’s hungry matters,” he said, lifting a box of meals and setting off for the lobby. “Until there’s no more need, we are not stopping.”