NORWICH - Mourners stood silently in a circle clutching a single candle and photos of deceased area homeless people earlier this week to remember 13 homeless and formally homeless who died in the region this year.
The 18th annual Homeless Persons Memorial was moved from the basement to the parking lot at Saint Vincent de Paul Place due to COVID-19 concerns.
Lee-Ann Gomes, Norwich s Human Services director, read the names to about 30 attending and added a memory of each person they were memorializing. We are paying tribute to the people that have either been homeless at the time of their death or been homeless in the past, Julie Way, outreach case manager at the Saint Vincent de Paul Place soup kitchen, said. At the time of some of their deaths they were inside and safe but many of them spent many many months or even years outside.
As a business reporter, I write about small businesses opening and closing, manufacturing, food and drink, labor issues and economic data. I particularly love writing about the impact of state and federal policy on local businesses. I also do some education reporting, covering colleges in southeastern Connecticut and regional K-12 issues.
Erica Moser
As a business reporter, I write about small businesses opening and closing, manufacturing, food and drink, labor issues and economic data. I particularly love writing about the impact of state and federal policy on local businesses. I also do some education reporting, covering colleges in southeastern Connecticut and regional K-12 issues.
This is the first in a series that highlights the work of those who stepped up to help others during the difficult days of 2020.
Norwich Retired social worker Debra Hartley likes to do the “silly things” so that the agencies she volunteers for can handle the big problems.
When the pandemic hit, Hartley, now 69, was stuck home like most people. She called Norwich Human Services Director Lee-Ann Gomes.
“Do you need
anything!?” Hartley recalled of the message she left. “I gotta get out of here!”
Gomes sure did need help. Norwich Human Services has been hit with repeated budget cuts, and for 10 years has not had a receptionist to answer phones. Before COVID-19 hit, the office was using a service that trains seniors for new jobs. But that ceased in March.
Norwich The phones at Norwich Public Schools central office ring all day, and later, Superintendent Kristen Stringfellow’s cellphone takes over.
Desperate parents beg her to open schools full time. Teachers, paraeducators and support staff fear classrooms are too crowded and ask if schools should go to remote learning.
“The parents that call, their stories are heartbreaking,” Stringfellow told the Board of Education on Tuesday. “They are pretty much: ‘Stringfellow, you’ve got to get my kid in there full time, because I have to go to work. Do you want me to go to work and feed them, or do you want me to supervise them while they’re remote learning?’ And the staff members’ calls are just as heartbreaking. ‘What can I do to make sure my kids are safe, and I’m safe, and that my colleague is safe? ”
A former Norwich Board of Education member pleaded guilty this week to two counts of forgery and was given suspended sentences and probation on both cases, according to court documents.
James Maloney pleaded guilty in Norwich Superior Court on Monday to a felony second-degree forgery charge in exchange for a four-year suspended sentence and two years of probation, according to the state’s judicial website.
Maloney resigned his position on the Board of Education in June 2019 after being charged with forging an insurance document for a city basketball league.
Maloney was arrested again in December 2019 and charged with third-degree forgery for creating fake receipts while applying for tax benefits. He was given a six-month sentence again, suspended and two years of probation after entering a guilty plea in the case on Monday.