Winners of Fellowship Place’s 2019 Campership Contest Announced

Winners of Fellowship Place’s 2019 Campership Contest were announced at Community meeting on April 9. A total of six awards were given, two for Best Art, three for Best Writing, and one for Best Overall Entry. Winners will receive a free summer vacation to Camp CONNRI, an adult vacation and retreat center in Ashford, CT. Funding is made possible by the Birgitta Johnson Campership Fund for Fellowship Place. Fellowship Place has sponsored the annual trip to CONNRI for the last five years, giving agency clients an opportunity to leave behind urban life and enjoy outdoor activities like swimming, boating, and nature walks.

Pictured: Fellowship Place Board President Anne Demchak with the winners at the award ceremony. From left to right, Don, Zane, Anne (in orange sweater), Cheryl, Betty, Ken, and Desiree.

Fellowship Place Hosts Free Tax Preparation Clinic with Yale University

For the third consecutive year, volunteers from Yale University have partnered with Fellowship Place to provide a free tax preparation service for agency clients and members of the Dwight neighborhood. The volunteers are part of VITA (Volunteer Income Tax Assistance), a program sponsored by the IRS to help low income people file their taxes. This service is especially helpful for people new to the workforce and who have never been responsible for filing taxes before. The Yale students held the first of two tax preparation clinics on Feb. 15. The second clinic will be on March 2. A very special thank you to student leaders Jasmine Liu and Paul Banegura for organizing the clinics.

Fellowship Place Celebrates National Wear Red Day

Fellowship Place joined the American Heart Association’s Wear Red Campaign on February 1 to raise awareness about women’s heart health. Special activities were held in the Social Rehab Center to raise awareness about heart health and the important role of exercise and good eating habits.

Conversations with Legislators at Fellowship Place

On Tuesday January 28, Fellowship Place hosted a coffee with area legislators on our New Haven campus, for a conversation with consumers, including family members and program participants, and members of the Fellowship Place Board. The morning discussion, which focused on why non-clinical services are so important to the mental health service system, was followed by a campus tour. Thank you to Senator George Logan, Representative Pat Dillon, Representative Kathy Kennedy, Representative Robin Comey, Senator James Maroney, and Dr. Dakibu Muley and Carlos Sosa-Lombardo of the City of New Haven Community Services Administration. We greatly appreciate them taking time out of their busy schedules to listen to first-hand accounts from our consumers, their families, and our staff about the challenges that exist today for those receiving and providing mental health services in our community. We are grateful for your support.

Theatre Fairfield Student Independent Project’s production of Proof to Benefit Fellowship’s Expressive Arts program

Theatre Fairfield’s production of David Auburn’s play “Proof”, performed Jan. 25 through Jan. 27, was outstanding–college theatre at its best.  Director Shannon Kelley and the cast captured the agony, fear, and loss experienced by families facing the mental illness of a loved one and, at the same time, left the audience with a sense of hope.

Special thanks to Theatre Fairfield and the Student Independent Project for donating proceeds from the production to Fellowship’s Expressive Arts program.

Fellowship Place thankful to break ground on long awaited project.

This week Fellowship Place broke ground on the final phase of the Campus Renovation Plan began in 2007. The project entails the demolition and replacement of a nonfunctional, dilapidated garage with a new maintenance storage facility. In addition to housing equipment and supplies, the facility will offer a maintenance job-training opportunity for clients who want to learn warehouse skills such as inventory tracking and storage. The project is being funded with a CT Non-profit Grant for infrastructure improvements from the Office of Policy & Management and private donations. With the support of various public/private partnerships, over the last 12 years Fellowship Place has transformed the once old and tired buildings that make up its campus, into vibrant welcoming centers where people living with a serious mental illness may find daily structure, an array of productive activities, and positive social connections. Special thanks to our supporters for making the campus transformation more than just a dream.