BY MIKE PATRICK REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN
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WATERBURY If it weren’t for Greater Waterbury Interfaith Ministries, Yaitza Pena said, she’d have no other way to provide for her 9-year-old daughter, Angenid, for Christmas.
On Tuesday, her daughter picked up a new toy – a doll – and she picked up Christmas dinner from GWIM.
The charity is one of several offering meals and more to the desperately poor during the holiday season, and taking safety precautions because of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.
“We normally over at the YMCA gym… have hundreds of children and parents, and Santa,” GWIM Executive Director Barbara Ann Dublin said. “This year it’s appointment only. We make the food pantry as festive as possible to reinforce the holiday spirit for children. We’re providing takeout hams and turkeys and canned goods for the families, along with gifts for the children.”