By Gretchen Webster

WESTPORT — Homes with Hope began its campaign against homelessness and hunger in Fairfield County four decades ago. Now, the Westport-based nonprofit is marking that legacy with special events and a documentary honoring its founders and supporters.

In 1984, the organization, then called the Interfaith Housing Association, was established by clergy at Westport and Weston houses of worship and incorporated into a nonprofit organization.

The same year, the Linxweiler House on Post Road East was opened as a transitional housing site, and on Christmas Eve 1984, the birth year of Interfaith Housing ended with the opening of a men’s emergency shelter.

40 years of making a difference

Since that landmark year, the nonprofit — rechristened Homes with Hope — has evolved to encompass a range of services for those in need. Its current president and CEO, Helen McAlinden, the third to hold that position over 40 years, wants to make sure those who came before her receive the recognition they deserve.

“I was left a legacy. I was handed something special,” she said in a recent interview. “The history will be forgotten if we don’t document it.” 

That history, over the years, has been impactful for people in need.

During 2023, for instance, 139 people were provided shelter at the Gillespie Center and the agency’s other supportive housing units, according to the Homes with Hope website. The center’s kitchen served 13,800 meals and the food pantry distributed nearly 1,600 bags of groceries.

Donors, volunteers play crucial role

In January 2020, when McAlinden took on the leadership role at Homes with Hope, the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic loomed. People housed at the group’s Gillespie Center homeless shelter had to be transferred to hotels while temporary dividers were installed between beds to provide safe spaces six feet apart. Other health and safety precautions had to be adopted for all of its services. But none of the shelter clients died from COVID, she said.

McAlinden recognizes how crucial the generous support from Westport individuals and organizations, including financial donations and countless hours of volunteer time, is to Homes with Hope. Green’s Farm Church, for instance, provided “a huge check” to help purchase the shelter dividers and other unexpected needs during the pandemic. 

Homes with Hope is funded 70 percent through philanthropy and 30 percent from government grants, she said.

Future plans blessed by anonymous angel

A current example of that community/government partnership is the soon-to-start renovation of the Gillespie Center, a town-owned building managed by Homes with Hope to house a homeless shelter, community kitchen and food pantry.

Financing for the $1.2 million project, primarily funded by a grant from the state Department of Housing, initially fell short of its full scope because of rising construction costs. But with additional fundraising, coupled with an anonymous donation of more than $170,000, the project is poised to go forward as envisioned.

While renovations take place, six beds for the homeless will be available at Linxweiler House, 655 Post Road East, while as of May 13 the food pantry will be moved to the community building of the Sasco Creek Village housing complex at 1655 Post Road East.

An early focus on helping others

McAlinden is no stranger to tough situations and the need to improvise when necessary. She immigrated to the U.S. from Ireland at the age of 17. Her father, a coal miner, had died when she was young.

She began volunteering at a church in New York City, “feeding the homeless on 42nd Street,” an experience that later influenced future priorities. She graduated from college, earned a master’s degree at Fordham University, and worked on Wall Street for a while, she said.

But the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks proved a turning point. McAlinden happened to have an appointment in another part of the city when the World Trade Center’s towers fell, and that tragedy “changed my life forever,” she said.

She returned to school to get a degree in social work and since been working with and for those in need, particularly the homeless.

The origins of “Hope”

McAlinden’s goal over the past year, through the documentary, has been to highlight the origins of Interfaith Housing and the history Homes with Hope. Filmmaker Livio Sanchez took on the job and the documentary was completed about a month ago, she said.

On April 9, the documentary, “Building Hope: 40 Years of Suburban Community Support for the Homeless,” was shown to a group that included town officials, the Homes with Hope board of directors and staff, and key community supporters of the nonprofit through the years. 

Honored at the first screening of the documentary was Dolores Bacarach, a founder with her husband, James, of the community kitchen at the Gillespie Center.

Another screening of the documentary, free and open to the public, will be scheduled at Christ and Holy Trinity Church.

“The purpose of the documentary is to acquaint people with the entire organization,” McAlinden said. 

“We are honoring all the people who founded Interfaith Housing and all the people in Westport who supported Interfaith Housing and Homes with Hope … We wanted to recognize the people who brought us to where we are today.”

Freelance writer Gretchen Webster, a Fairfield County journalist for many years, was editor of the Fairfield Minuteman and has taught journalism at New York and Southern Connecticut State universities.