Volunteers from the First Congregational Church of Darien helped other residents in need by distributing bags of food filled with all the fixings needed to enjoy a holiday dinner at home.

The food distribution was held Thursday morning by Open Doors, a Norwalk-based nonprofit, at its Smilow Life Center on Chestnut Street.

For over 150 local families, their Thanksgiving meals will be hearty thanks to Opens Doors and a crew of volunteers.  Volunteers from the First Congregational Church of Darien and local residents along with the staff from the Open Doors nonprofit gave out baskets of food Tuesday for the Thanksgiving holiday.

Bourbon lovers have the chance to win some highly coveted bottles by giving back to a Norwalk nonprofit this holiday season.

“Blankets for Bourbon” is a fundraiser for Open Doors started by Beverage King’s Harsha Bethi, whose family owns the Norwalk liquor store.

News 12 Connecticut features Open Doors’ food programs as we begin the holiday season!  In addition to serving hot meals every day and operating a grocery pantry that serves over 1,000 Norwalk area residents, Open Doors will be celebrating the holidays with take-home dinner baskets for low-income families to be able to host holiday dinners at home.

Check out what’s happening at Open Doors!

• Follow Gabriela’s journey as she builds a brighter future for her family

• Announcing our homeless prevention initiative in Stamford

• Breaking ground on more affordable family apartments

Five years ago, when we at Beverage King first launched what has now become “Blankets for Bourbon,” our goal was to take our customers’ passion for whiskey and marry it up with a cause that would benefit our local community here in Norwalk and the surrounding area. We chose Open Doors as our partner for all the same reasons that you gravitated to their organization.

Join Ridgefield, Darien, and Brookfield Running Company for the most active food drive of the year!  Registrants start at Veteran’s Memorial Park & Marina in Norwalk, and run 1 mile to Open Doors.  How does the food get there? YOU GET TO CARRY AND DELIVER IT!  Get creative; however you can carry your goods is up to you. Backpack? Stroller? Big biceps? All good!

Earlier this year, Connecticut reported 3,410 people were experiencing homelessness in a single night, rising for a third year in a row, according to the state’s annual point-in-time count.

The rise in homelessness in Connecticut and across the nation is attributed to several causes, but a primary driver is housing insecurity and affordability.

The lack of affordable inventory is made worse when the rentals available are so expensive — while the National Low Income Housing Coalition reports that an affordable two-bedroom in Connecticut costs $1,796, the average cost of a two-bedroom unit in August was $2,186 a month, according to Apartments.com.

Michele Conderino, the executive director of Open Doors, a Norwalk-based homeless service provider, said that the wildfire smoke from Canada last summer fundamentally changed the way Connecticut providers thought about environmental threats to people experiencing homelessness.

Renting in the Stamford-Norwalk metropolitan area requires the highest hourly wage in the state to afford a two-bedroom unit: $50.54, according to the 2024 Out of Reach Report from the coalition, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit organization that advocates for affordable housing for everyone.

For years, Angela Matthews led a comfortable middle-class Connecticut life, working as a preschool teacher while raising a family in a spacious three-bedroom suburban house with a lovely front and back porch.

The EOH represents an evolution of Open Doors’ services beyond the existing Financial Opportunity Center (FOC) model that Open Doors has deployed successfully over the last three years in partnership with the Local Initiative Support Corporation (LISC).

Amid climbing housing costs and inflation, the number of people experiencing homelessness in Connecticut rose another 13% from January 2023 to January 2024 — the third year of continued increases, according to the latest annual count of the population.

Students across lower Fairfield County are honing real-world business skills while serving thousands of hungry individuals from their communities in a partnership with Open Doors.

“You have to celebrate these victories,” said J.P. Rossi, coordinator of The Social at Open Doors. “It is monumental when you get your first lease, when you get your apartment and you’re able to really control your life.

The results of Norwalk’s Affordable Housing Needs Assessments reveal gaps in the city’s housing supply.

In all, 10 percent of Norwalk’s housing stock is affordable, well above several neighboring towns. However, the city could still be doing more.