LETTER: Community thank-you from Waterbury Common Market
Sept. 26, 2023 | By Sara Whitehair
Waterbury Common Market's main entry is now facing Main Street. Photo by Lisa Scagliotti
To the Community:
I want to thank everyone who helped make our recent move and name change successful at the Waterbury Common Market. We had a large number of people step up to help in one way or another, and I wanted to take a moment to thank them. They are:
Jake Visi of Net Zero Design Inc. who provided us with two heat pumps for our new space! These heat pumps have been instrumental in helping our bakery and produce items last longer, as well as heating and cooling our new space.
Albert Borne who updated our electrical service.
Laura Parrette who designed our new logo.
Tamatha Thomas-Haase who is helping us craft our new vision, mission, and values statements.
The Rotary Club of Waterbury whose following members came to the food shelf to box up food and re-stock it on our new shelves: Kevin Gorham, Marge Gulyas, Theresa Wood and Gwenna Peters. Dan McKibben was instrumental in moving the cabinets and infrastructure.
Francis Moran and Bill Whitehair, who took apart, re-configured and installed our cabinetry.
The Common Market’s board and volunteers who stepped up to add extra assistance with the move: Sandy Yusen, Norma D’Anca, Alex Houston, Scott Wennerholm and Nicole Hynes. Maryann Naber and her husband Greg painted the new space and provided us with window blinds.
Marie Gervais and Trevor Deschamps who helped with cleaning and the move.
I also wanted to provide a little further information about the Waterbury Common Market. The market is designed to replace conventional designations such as food shelf, food pantry, food cupboard, or food bank, with the aim of fostering a more respectful and all-encompassing culture. It explicitly asserts the universal entitlement of all individuals to access food.
It is a physical location that embodies the principles of dignity, non-bias, and inclusivity in providing food assistance and support to those in need, in alignment with the belief that every human has the inherent right to access nourishment.
If you could use any help in providing food for yourself and/or your family please come and visit the market during our open hours, Mondays and Fridays from 10 a.m. to noon and Wednesdays 3-5 p.m.
We will assist you in gathering the items you need and help you get everything out the door and to your mode of transport. I realize that accessing our new space is a hardship for some and we are working to get a ramp installed in the spring. In the meantime, please come to our old space in the back of the building and ring the doorbell. Someone will come out to assist you.
As always thank you to everyone who has supported the Waterbury Common Market!
Sara Whitehair, director
Waterbury Common Market
wafsmainstreet@gmail.com