About 150 people participated in the 16th annual Walk for the Hungry and Homeless May 18 to benefit Spooner House.
Spooner House Executive Director Susan Agamy said walk wasn’t organized like a traditional walkathon, which was obvious from the lack of a single, mass start.
Instead, walkers showed up at the Division Street end of the Derby Green and started whenever they got there.
Agamy said everyone’s gotten so busy that they don’t want to wait around for an official start.
The important part, naturally, was to help the people in need who come to Spooner House.
Spooner House operates a homeless shelter for families and individuals, as well as a food pantry with several satellite locations. It serves an area that includes Ansonia, Derby, Seymour, Shelton and Oxford, and to a lesser extent Beacon Falls and Naugatuck.
Agamy noted that the primary measurement for demand for Spooner House services is the number of meals it provides. Usually clients receive 21 meals per person each month.
In 2008, the nonprofit agency provided 61,000 meals, but in 2012 that went up to 153,000, and this year Agamy said she expects to top 160,000.
“We’re not the only pantry in the Valley, although the others are much smaller,” she said.
Another departure from the traditional walkathon is that participants and their sponsors pledge a set amount instead of agreeing to donate a unit amount per mile.
But she said the event this year was still expected to raise about $15,000, between the gold and silver event sponsorships and the participants’ donations.
Agamy said it is gratifying to receive this support from the community, because the number of people in the Valley who need shelter and food pantry assistance keeps rising.
One problem was a cut in allotments for federal food stamps, a program that is officially known as SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program).
The cut occurred several months ago, before the so-called “sequester” went into effect. Agamy said it cut some families’ SNAP benefits and forced others to reapply.
Spooner House has also had to turn people away from its homeless shelter because there isn’t enough room for them.
“We’re not getting a big check from the government,” she said.
But Spooner House does receive modest support from Shelton and Seymour. Shelton Mayor Mark Lauretti and Seymour First Selectman Kurt Miller have been very supportive, Agamy said.
“If there weren’t nonprofits providing these services then government would have to,” she said.
One of the participants in the walk earlier this month was Stan Youngberg of Woodbridge, a member of Spooner House’s Board of Directors for 10 years.
He said he was moved to join it by the news that 151,000 children in Connecticut might go hungry during the summer school vacation because they won’t receive lunch in school.
Agamy said participation by Spooner House’s board members is typical. Many other board members also show up.
