Trusted partner Campbell's continues to bring holiday joy to Carver kids
December 2019 at the Carver Community Center
Campbell's Snacks employees usually come to Carver each December to wrap literally a mountain of donated gifts. These gifts are then given to hundreds of children in the community who visit the Carver Community Center with their families to experience the magic of the holiday season.
With this year’s COVID restrictions, the Campbell Soup Company instead gave us a generous check to help us fill our children’s arms with what’s on their wish lists.
The Campbell Soup Company is driven and inspired by its Purpose, “Real food that matters for life’s moments.” And for many years, the company’s employees and philanthropy have mattered in the lives of Carver families. Founded in 1869, Campbell has a celebrated heritage of giving back and acting as a good steward of the planet’s natural resources.
Just as Soup is their middle name, so too has Community been Carver’s symbolic middle name since our founding in 1938. And just as there’s much more to the company than soup, Carver too has grown to now include 19 schools in addition to the Carver Community Center. They are still Campbell, and we are still Carver, but we both are continually changing in new and exciting ways.
What remains a constant through the years and decades is our mutual commitment to Purpose. Making sure Carver kids experience the joy of the holiday season is one element of Purpose that we share.
Rowayton Fire Department's Annual Toy Drive results in mountains of joy for Carver kids
Joan and Mike at the Carver Community Center after bringing in all the gifts collected for Carver kids by the Rowayton Fire Department. These mountains of gifts will now be wrapped by yet more volunteers. Holidays at Carver are always community events!
As they do each year, the Rowayton Fire Department collected a fire truck full of toys and other gifts for Carver kids.
The co-founders of the annual Rowayton Fire Department Toy Drive, Joan DeRegt and Mike Barbis, delivered all the donated gifts to the Carver Community Center yesterday. These mountains of joy constituted this holiday season’s veritable “plum pudding stuffed with good things.”
Rowayton’s volunteer fire department has been bringing great fun and wonder to Norwalk’s children for nearly 20 years.
Gifts include toys, sporting equipment, books and gift cards.
This is love in action, something Carver volunteers Joan and Mike are about all year long. There are many stories through the years described on Carver’s website pages and in Carver blog posts that exalt their names.
The magic of this holiday season never ends, and its greatest gifts are friends like Joan and Mike and their generous team of Rowayton volunteers. Though the world has grown weary this past year, the love these volunteers put into their giving keeps us all young and hopeful!
Carver's Gift Giving Event, Friday, 12/18, 4:30-6:30PM at the Carver Community Center
Help us complete the wish lists for Carver kids this holiday season!
Alumna Shantasia Best is a mother, wife and teacher with a big soul
L-R: Nia (9), Joseph, Noelle (3), and Shantasia.
Shantasia Best is a 4th grade teacher in the Bridgeport Public Schools district. She graduated from Western Governors University with a B.A. in Interdisciplinary Studies with a focus in Elementary Education. But, of course, there is much more to her story than those milestones.
Bridgeport Public Schools, the largest district in the state, closed all in-person classes and moved to online-only learning on November 23rd. This difficult decision came as COVID-19 cases spiked in Bridgeport and across the state, prompting school districts to grapple with their ability to safely host in-person classes as the virus spreads. All Bridgeport students have been provided with a device to use for remote learning and teachers trained for online classes. Teachers report to their school buildings to teach online from there, but the buildings remain closed to the public. Schools also provide to-go meals daily for students.
Whether remotely or in-person, teachers like Shantasia become impromptu social workers for their students, directing some families to food banks, acting as grief counselors for those who had family members die of COVID-19, and helping pupils work through their feelings of anxiety, depression and isolation. It’s also likely that for teachers with big souls like Shantasia’s, concern for one’s students comes at a cost to themselves.
“It was always my hope to serve communities similar to my own. I am very pleased that I can say I am indeed doing just that. In 2018, I started my career as an Instructional Interventionist in Norwalk. I was later given the opportunity to teach 4th grade in Norwalk Public Schools. I was given the opportunity to teach in Bridgeport in 2019, and I’ve been enjoying teaching in Bridgeport ever since,” Shantasia shared.
“I first realized my love for teaching children when working for Carver as a high school student. Running Carver’s Dance and Step teams gave me a foundation for teaching. Dance and Step are creative outlets that help me to connect to my students.”
Shantasia is currently working toward earning a graduate degree in Curriculum and Instruction from Arkansas State University.
“While I am proud of these achievements, I am most proud of being able to balance the demands of my career and the needs of my students with the joys and needs of my family.” Shantasia’s growing family (in the photo above) consists of Nia (9), her husband Joseph, and Noelle (3).
Coincidentally, Shantasia joined the Carver community in the 4th grade, in our CASPER after-school program at the Carver Community Center. And then she never left until leaving for college. During her high school years, in addition to teaching Dance and Step, Shantasia worked as a Carver summer camp counselor and as the gym coordinator at the Carver Community Center during each school year.
“Those were some of the best years of my life, because Carver as a community is a true family. Up until a few years ago, I stopped by Carver a few times each week, but my schedule eventually became too crowded. I miss regularly visiting and seeing the kids there. I think what I always loved most about Carver was being able to learn about and value my history, being engulfed in a nurturing culture with people who genuinely love and care for you.”
Most educators go into teaching not for fame or fortune but because of a passion to connect. Shantasia offers herself to her students — her energies, her gifts — with open-hearted generosity.
In the midst of this pandemic, Shantasia offers her students hope and a sense of connectedness that is hard to find elsewhere. She builds on the truth that beneath the broken and threadbare surface of our society there remains a hidden wholeness.
Carver alumni are also our heroes. They take on impossible jobs and stay with them for the long haul because they live by a standard that is more important than mere effectiveness. The name of that standard may best be described as faithfulness — faithfulness to their gifts, faithfulness to their perception of the needs of the world, and faithfulness to offering their gifts to whatever needs are within your reach. For Shantasia, her faithfulness is to her students and her own young family.
“My advice for the next generation of Carver kids would be to keep pushing! You will not fail until you stop trying. And to stay in touch with the Carver family. it’s a community and family well worth keeping in touch with.”
#GivingTuesday is next Tomorrow!
Giving Tuesday is tomorrow - December, 1st!
On #GivingTuesday, millions of people around the world will come together to support and champion the causes that are important to them and the communities in which they live. We hope you'll support Carver kids!
Your inbox is about to be full with alerts about #GivingTuesday. This global giving day is a response to commercialization and consumerism in the post-Thanksgiving season (Black Friday and Cyber Monday).
You are always generous to Carver kids. Thank you!
We promote Giving Tuesday because it’s a good thought and because we don’t want you to think we are not happy about this international giving day!
Calling for in-kind gifts to fill "Blessing Bags"!
Carver staff and volunteers also support adults in need — and the needs have never been greater. The pandemic has plunged many of our neighbors into poverty and even homelessness.
Before the Holiday Blessing Bag Giveaway on Saturday, December 26th, we need your support. We are collecting items now to fill the Blessing Bags. A suggested list is below.
(Travel Size Preferred)
Toothpaste & Toothbrushes
Soaps, Shampoos, Conditioners
Deodorant, Lotion
Hand Sanitizer, Wipes, Tissues, Disposable Masks
Socks, Socks, Socks
Gloves, Hats
Snacks (Granola Bars, Nuts, Crackers, Cookies)
Bottled Water
Gift Cards (Dunkin Donuts, McDonalds, Burger King, ETC.)
Or monetary donations welcome and we will shop for the necessary items.
Thank you for spreading LOVE. Your donation is greatly appreciated and will make a big impact on someone’s life today. If possible, please print and include your name and email with this form so that we can acknowledge your contribution and/or donation.
Name:______________________________________________
Email:______________________________________________
Drop-Off Locations:
Carver Community Foundation – 7 Academy Street, Norwalk, CT
Hair by Julia – 77 Wall Street, Norwalk, CT
Contacts for more information:
Tremain Gilmore (203) 981-2749
Ayasha Cantey (203) 807-3081
Julia Moore (203) 842-7197
Jackie Roberson (203) 981-9371
Jacob Tomlin (203) 820-1519
A Thanksgiving message from Dr. Estrella
The start of the holiday season is here, bringing yet another milestone in what has been an unprecedented year. While Thanksgiving celebrations will undoubtedly look different in 2020, the holiday should remain an opportunity to pause and reflect on life’s blessings.
Volunteer Pat O'Toole devotes months to kitting hats and gloves for Carver boys and girls!
Pat O’Toole (right) standing with Carver CEO Novelette Peterkin, each holding a bag for girls and boys full of holiday cheer — and warmth!