Goshen HELP held its annual meeting last weekend, featuring an empty bowl soup supper.
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TORRINGTON – Goshen HELP held its annual meeting last weekend, featuring an empty bowl soup supper.
Toni Saathoff was recognized at the dinner for being the first program graduate.
Saathoff was living in the Denver area when she found herself and her husband in a bind.
“We were both working and he was six months behind in getting his pay, and then I had a stroke and lost my job. And then we lost the car and then we lost the house. We rented an apartment for a couple of years,” Saathoff said.
Saathoff said under some difficult circumstances, her husband ended up in jail because they were unable to afford a lawyer and she ended up losing the apartment. She stayed with family until she came to Torrington, where her fixed income was still not sufficient to keep her head above water. But Goshen HELP was able to assist her getting back on her feet.
She has now graduated from the program and is self-sufficient.
Goshen HELP assists individuals and families going through severe hardships. Services provided include a food pantry to ease the grocery burden to let clients better focus on other financial areas, Emergency Services that provide a one-time financial aid and Case Management for long-term needs.
Goshen HELP was established by a group of community members in 2015 in hopes of making a difference. By 2018 they were in the process of getting a Community Services Block Grant.
“Empty bowls is primarily just our main fundraising dinner and is a time for us to tell everyone what we did,” Kyle Borger, Goshen HELP Executive Director said.
Jazz 6 to 8 a local Jazz group, donated their time to play live for the evening and Steve Law, Art Teacher at Torrington High School, made bowls for the supper.
Borger said the empty bowls signify the goal of taking the emptiness in struggling people’s lives and allowing Goshen HELP to assist in filling it.