Several years ago, Christopher Peacock (a fellow Brit who is the founder and CEO of Christopher Peacock Home, the internationally renowned cabinet brand) dropped by my office. On his way back from church the previous Sunday, he and his wife, Jayne, had called in at the Open Door Shelter in Norwalk, which served more than 20,000 meals per month to those in need. “The kitchen is in sore need of renovation,” he noted. And coming from the storied founder of the iconic “white kitchen,” we knew this was serious! He asked us for help with the renovation.
Then Chris not only threw the whole kitchen out and enlisted his family and friends, CTC&G staffers included, to gut the room (oh, the dust!), but also his organization replaced it with a sparkling kitchen, new flooring, appliances and easy- care, stainless steel shelves!
While the kitchen was being transformed that summer, I—along with colleagues and families from both of our companies—helped to serve hundreds of al fresco meals on a daily basis.
Today, the Open Door offers emergency shelter with 95 beds for families in need. And between the kitchen and the pantry, it provides more than 300,000 meals each year to this community.
To learn more about the Open Door go to opendoorshelter.org.
