The first night I slept here, someone brought me soup without asking what happened. That was four years ago. I still think about that soup.
Marcus
147 nights safe
14 beds still open — doors close at 10 PM
Meet the people
6 years on staff
Denise Okafor
“Getting someone an ID is not paperwork. It is the moment they become a person the world can see again.”
Denise sits across a folding table every Tuesday and Thursday. She has helped 214 people replace lost IDs — the first document that unlocks everything else: a bank account, a job application, a lease. She keeps a small notebook of every name. "I write them down so I remember they were here," she says.
Every Thursday since 2022
Ray Kowalczyk
“I make the same soup my grandmother made. People come back for seconds and I pretend it is about the soup.”
Ray is a retired electrician from Bridgeport who started volunteering after his own layoff in 2019. He shows up at 3:30 PM every Thursday, ties on an apron, and starts a pot of kielbasa and white bean soup — his grandmother Irena’s recipe from Kraków. He has served it 156 times. He knows which regulars take it without bread and which ones need extra salt.
Former resident, now staff
Tomás Reyes
“I unlock the doors at six. I know what it means to be on the other side of them.”
Tomás slept at Haven for 11 weeks in the winter of 2022. He got a job at a warehouse, then a room, then came back to ask if there was any way to help. He now opens the shelter every evening at 6 PM, checks every cot, and stays until midnight. He says the most important thing he does is remember people’s names. "When you’ve been invisible, someone saying your name out loud is not small."
Now you know the people your money becomes.
Cover a Bed Tonight
Your gift becomes a specific person
in a specific room.
Every dollar goes directly to operations — beds, meals, and the staff who know your name.
Volunteer This Week
Show up. That’s the whole job.
No experience required. We’ll show you what to do. Most volunteers say the first night changed something in them.
Monday · 5:30 – 8 PM
Dinner service
Thursday · 5:30 – 8 PM
Kitchen prep
Saturday · 8 – 11 AM
Coat drive sorting
Sunday · 6 – 9 PM
Welcome desk
We’ll confirm your spot by email within 24 hours.