The renovation is done. Everyone is ready. The move-in date for the remodeled Gillespie Center and Hoskins Place is Monday (January 6).
Homes with Hope — the non-profit that oversees the homeless shelter and food pantry on Jesup Road, between Tiffany and the police station — is proud of the new facility.
Rooms and furnishings are completely redone. The space includes a new kitchen, spacious food pantry, and a meeting room available for non-profits free of charge.
Homes with Hope CEO and president Helen McAlinden is offering tours to the public on Friday and Saturday (January 3 and 4, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.). Reservations are required. Call or text Helen at 475-225-5292 to reserve your spot.
Helen McAlinden, outside the newly renovated Gillespie Center. (Photo/Dan Woog)
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Sure, it’s short notice.
But if you’re looking for somewhere to watch today’s Peach and Rose Bowls, VFW Post 399 is your spot.
They’ll welcome you any time between noon and 7 p.m. Good games, great food and drinks, fun company … the perfect way to “kick off” 2025. (Hat tip: Andrew Colabella)
Football, food and fun, from noon to 7 p.m. today.
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There were as many ways to welcome 2025 last night as there are Westporters (including, unusually, thunder).
Everett Bierman took this view:
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Pizza meets politics on Monday.
That’s the date (January 6, 7 p.m.), and Pizza Lyfe is the place, for the next League of Women Voters o Westport event.
The non-partisan organization invites residents to a free pie — and a chance to meet our town’s state legislators, to find out what’s happening in Hartford.
The LWV says “bring questions and a guest.” They’ll supply the pizza.
To attend, email kubuguzu@gmail.com.
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Sharkey’s Cuts for Kids — the Westport-based national haircut chain — has partnered with Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals.
It’s both a fundraising effort, and a way for Sharkey’s to impact many of the communities where franchises are located.
Over the past 40 years, Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals have raised more than $9 billion for 170 facilities across North America.
The Sharkey’s partnership includes participation in local events that unite families and support local hospitals; themed fundraising events; franchise donations; special events like a “Day of Beauty” or free haircuts for pediatric cancer patients, and more.
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Claudia Sherwood Servidio calls our New Year’s Day “Westport … Naturally” image “Spring in Winter.”
She shot this on Main Street near Cross Highway, at Willowbrook Cemetery.
(Photo/Claudia Sherwood Servidio)
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And finally … today, as we begin the second quarter of the 21st century, let’s look back 45 years.
In 1979, the Village People released “Ready for the ’80s.” Its thumping disco beat and turn-the-decade lyrics were relentlessly upbeat.
Take my dream and hitch it to a starIn the ’80s we will travel farWe will realize just who we areWe can move as one.
Im ready for the ’80s, glad to be aliveI’m waiting for those magic numbers to arriveI’ve got myself together, got myself in gearI’m gonna be the first out there, to greet those fabulous years.
Sure, the Berlin Wall fell.
But the ’80s also brought AIDS, the Tiananmen Square Massacre, the Challenger space shuttle explosion, the Chernobyl nuclear accident, John Lennon’s murder, and a lot more.
Still, a new year always brings optimism. Right?
(Are you ready for 2025? “06880” sure is. And to ensure another year of hyper-local journalism, please click here. Thank you!)
