When I moved to Stamford, CT. it was just beginning to change from a small, sleepy Connecticut city to an important commercial center. The place is growing in leaps and bounds, but not out of control. Downtown is a busy hub with businesses, hotels and restaurants, a terrific regional symphony orchestra (the Stamford Symphony), lovely parks and a shopping mall. It’s becoming a big city, at least as far as Connecticut standards go.
And while there’s been a lot of progress over the years, it’s still not done. The south end, which flourished at one time, long before I ever moved here, is now at last getting some attention with a huge urban redevelopment project.
Fairway, an 80,000 square foot supermarket is among the newer entries into the Harbor Point Project. It has everything you could possibly want in a grocery store and more to the point, they have employed hundreds of people from the local community. This week they started a new “Share the Love” project in an effort to reach out to the area’s homeless. They are going to donate a portion of this week’s receipts to St. Luke’s LifeWorks, the largest provider of services to the homeless in Fairfield County. So every time someone shops at Fairway, some of what they spend will be given to the shelter.
This particular program ends tomorrow — so Fairway shoppers — come on in before the deadline!
But beyond this program they’re also going to provide internships and job training for some at St. Lukes — and have already given jobs to 35 SLLW clients.
Jobs matter. Everywhere. But here in Stamford, it makes us better, makes our home a better, more livable place. SLLW helps people come out of homelessness and into the working world. They can do much more with more money, so thanks to Fairway for being so generous.