Home Care In East Hartford, CT

In a scene that’s been playing out across Connecticut over the past week, Diana Colombo lined up at a mobile food pantry in East Hartford on Wednesday morning — a line double its typical length.

Colombo, who is recovering from back surgery, walks with a cane. When she made it to the front of the line, a companion helped her load potatoes, onions, and boxes of macaroni and cheese into a cart.

Normally, Colombo would use her SNAP benefits to buy groceries and supplement that with two pantry visits at the middle and end of each month. Because of the government shutdown, however, that resource is gone. She’s gotten creative, cooking up a pumpkin that Connecticut Foodshare distributed around Halloween, to make a puree for her grandchildren, who live with her. And she’s visiting food pantries three times a week.

“You could cry about it, it’s not going to change nothing,” she said.

An estimated 360,000 Connecticut residents benefit from SNAP, and food pantry directors say they’re working hard to meet the need, with uncertain resources. Enrollees received SNAP benefits through Oct. 31, but have not received new funds since Nov. 1.

Calls to Connecticut’s 211 line also convey the reality in stark terms, with 10 times the number of inquiries about food assistance compared to the same time a year ago, according to the United Way of Connecticut, which runs the help line.

The future of the food assistance program remains uncertain as the longest government shutdown in U.S. history drags on. A federal judge ruled on Friday that the Trump administration must tap reserve funds to replenish EBT cards, but this week the administration sent conflicting messages about whether it would replenish the cards partially or not at all. Connecticut leaders have also sent mixed signals about how they will fill the gap.

Amidst the confusion, pantry lines convey a grim present-day reality: SNAP cardholders are currently not receiving benefits to feed their families.

Sarah Santora, the director of community programs for Connecticut Foodshare, was handing out flyers at the pantry in East Hartford on Wednesday, letting people in line know where other food distribution sites are located. Santoro said that Connecticut Foodshare has noted a 30% to 50% increase in pantry visits across the state, “and in some places much more.”

Santoro said she’s fielding calls at Connecticut Foodshare from people looking for help.

“They’re very, very worried about what they’re going to do if this doesn’t end soon,” Santora said.

In Torrington, Friendly Hands Food Bank Executive Director Karen Thomas said she was trying to maintain a stable amount of food distributed to each household amidst an inundation of new clients, many of whom she described as panicked. The food pantry has cut back on the amount of meat and fish on offer, making it difficult for families to feed their kids a well-balanced diet on mostly shelf-stable items.

“The fresh produce, veggies, things of that nature — those are few and far between.”

At the Midwest Food Bank of New England in Manchester, pantry directors came to collect food to distribute in their communities.

“I’m getting multiple calls every day, people are walking in every day wondering what help they can receive,” said the food bank’s executive director Corey Barrette. “We’re faced with the stark reality that you can’t be everything to everyone. And the further you stretch yourself the less helpful you are to the people you’re trying to help, and that’s a painful place to operate from right now.”

Joan Soucy, the director of the Andover Congregational Church Food Pantry, was visiting the Midwest Food Bank on Wednesday to restock.

“We’re feeling the pinch,” Soucy said. “Our shelves are getting pretty empty.”

In Bridgeport, the Thomas Merton Family Center runs both a food pantry and a soup kitchen.

“There’s lot of anxiety and trepidation about what’s happening now, and how long it’s going to go on for,” said Nicholas Martinez, the direct of the center. “On Friday, we basically ran out of food during lunch, which never happens.”

Martinez said he was seeing a lot of new faces, people who had never needed the center’s resources before, especially families with young children. “It hurts” to see, he said.

Food bank directors emphasized that while donations of food are greatly appreciated, money can allow them to get much more food out to people in need, because they are able to use funds to pay drivers, trucks, gas and other costs toward collecting bulk quantities of donated food.

“With only three paid staff and thousands of volunteers who help us do the work, we can keep our costs really, really low,” Barrette said. “We would never turn food away, but we also want people to recognize that, because of the nature of our operating model, we’re not buying the food that’s out there. We are looking for food that is being donated so we can pick it up at a very low cost and turn around and give it away, and as a result we can stretch the dollar much further.”

Wednesday found state Sen. Saud Anwar, D-South Windsor, at the Midwest Food Bank, pulling donated packets of noodles and cans of beans from a box and sorting them into piles. Dozens of other volunteers were seated around tables, eating a communal lunch, but Anwar abstained. He’s been on a “SNAP Diet” for the past 10 days to raise awareness about the precariousness of Connecticut’s food insecure and has been living on $6.20 of food a day, what an adult would normally get in SNAP funds.

By midday, Anwar had only consumed a cup of tea. He had a banana, apple, and serving of peanut butter waiting for him in his car for lunch — he was trying to delay eating as long as he could. Later, at home, he’d have dinner — likely a combination of rice, beans, and frozen vegetables.

Anwar said that sticking to the $6.20 budget requires him to be strategic. He brings any food he plans to consume during the day with him. He shops carefully to ensure he’s getting some protein and produce in his diet. And he saves his single full meal for the evening.

Anwar said his goal is to raise awareness, posting photos of his meals on Facebook, in hopes people will support the food insecure during this especially precarious time. The irony, of course, is that people who normally receive SNAP benefits don’t even have that $6.20 to spend right now.

“It’s a personal perspective to experience what people are experiencing, and that gives you more empathy and respect, and hopefully the vigor to do more and stand up,” Anwar said. “If that gets some attention, then I can shine light on the real issue that people are experiencing.”

Anwar was quick to acknowledge that his experience was a choice, and therefore inauthentic. “The real experience is what so many people have as a daily reality.”

While the Lamont Administration has given an additional $3 million to Connecticut Foodshare, the state’s largest food bank, to supplement missing food, Anwar said that is merely symbolic.

“We’re not doing enough. I think to have a press conference about $3 million, which will add up to one day or one and a half days of support? It’s more about the press conference than actually doing it. Just roll up your sleeves and fix the issue. People are hungry and we have the resources.”

Josie Reich contributed reporting.

Laura Tillman is a reporter for the Connecticut Mirror. Copyright 2025 @ CT Mirror (ctmirror.org).

Frustrated with an on-again-off-again promise of SNAP funding, Gov. Ned Lamont says he has authorized the state to pay out the entire monthly cost of the federal food assistance program using state funds.

The money should be available on EBT cards of Connecticut’s 360,000 recipients within four days, he said at a press conference in East Hartford Friday.

“I just authorized — we’re going to fully fund SNAP through the end of November. We’ll see what happens from there,” Lamont said.

Three separate court rulings ordered President Donald Trump’s administration to fund the program using a contingency fund that had been used in previous shutdowns. The first two ordered partial payment and the third Thursday ordered the program be fully funded. Trump and his administration have alternately signaled they would comply and then not. The president said on social media earlier this week that he would not release funding for the benefits, which help 42 million low-income veterans, seniors and families buy groceries, until the government shutdown was ended. The administration has appealed the latest decision.

“This herky-jerky back and forth is driving people crazy. Let’s take care of people. We can afford to do it,” Lamont said.

Lamont initially allocated $3 million to Foodshare to help supply food banks around the state with food to distribute to recipients who had run out of SNAP money. The total cost of the program for a month in Connecticut is $72 million and legislators criticized the governor for not doing more. Lamont later said he had with lawmakers agreed to put aside $500 million to address federal cuts, potentially including SNAP funding.

When asked what changed to inspire the move to fully fund the program, Lamont said, “The constant back and forth. I thought we were going to have it fully funded three days ago. I thought the courts said you were going to get partial funding. They can’t make up their mind. We made up our mind. We’re going to take care of the people on SNAP.”

The money will come from Connecticut’s large surplus, generated by the state collecting more income taxes than expected from capital gains when the stock market soars. State Comptroller Sean Scanlon on Nov. 3 said fiscal year 2025 yielded $1.9 billion in surplus and he anticipated a General Fund surplus of $322.3 million and a Special Transportation Fund surplus of $14 million for 2026. In addition, the state has a rainy day fund of $4.3 billion that can be used in fiscal emergencies. Lamont says that Connecticut is better positioned than many other states, based on the size of the rainy day fund.

More than 360,000 people in Connecticut rely on SNAP, or the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, to put food on the table, including 120,000 children. Funding for the program was not renewed Nov. 1 due to the federal government shutdown. Since then, food pantries have been struggling to meet the need.

In a press release Friday afternoon, Lamont said the money would be available 48 hours after it was transferred to the EBT vendor, something he said was imminent.

“We are relieved to share this good news with Connecticut families,” DSS Commissioner Andrea Barton Reeves said. “Our team has been working around the clock to ensure we could provide these benefits as quickly as possible. Families can soon expect to see their full November benefits, and we appreciate everyone’s patience during this time.”

Lamont also thanked those who supported people in need.

“Families in need of food assistance should never have been used as political pawns due to Washington’s dysfunction, and the federal administration’s attempts to prevent families from accessing this funding has just been cruel. I am extremely appreciative of all the community partners and generous people of Connecticut who’ve rallied over these last few days to ensure that nobody in our state goes hungry,” he said.

The developer who won approval last year to put up a three-story building in East Hartford with 36 apartments and a pair of commercial spaces is scaling back its plan.

Unlike recent changes in much larger development plans in South Windsor, Portland and elsewhere, Nam Hue 251 now intends to build more commercial space and fewer apartments than initially planned.

The company’s new plan for the property near the Pratt & Whitney headquarters calls for slightly more first-floor commercial space but 16 fewer apartments, and may be another indication of the quickly shifting markets for housing and business space in central Connecticut. Part of the new proposal is to cut the height from three stories to two.

The plan is to build on a vacant lot at 351 Silver Lane, roughly across from the Dunkin’ Donuts just west of Roberts Street.

Town Planner Carlene Shaw recently told the Planning and Zoning Commission that after the company got a site plan approval to build 35 apartments last summer, it added a 36th unit to the plan but never began construction.

“The developer after some long thought-out discussions with financial entities and partners, they determined for this project to move forward they’d need to reduce the scope from three stories to two stories. That’s the fundamental change,” engineer Luke Mauro, senior project manager with Solli Engineering, told commissioners.

Solli is a consultant to Nhan Nguyen’s Nam Hue 251, and presented the plan on behalf of the company.

The original proposal was for 26 one-bedroom apartments and 10 two-bedroom units, with about 3,400 square feet of commercial space on the ground floor. The new version has two studio apartments, 12 one-bedroom units and six two-bedroom models.

But the first-floor commercial space is enlarged to about 4,600 square feet, roughly a third bigger than initially expected.

That’s the reverse of what’s been happened with large-scale mixed-used proposals in Connecticut over the past couple of years.

Those often have tens of thousands of square feet of anticipated retail when they start out, but developers in recent years have been telling towns that the market for new bricks-and-mortar retail outlets continues to lag. In those cases, the developers typically ask to swap out some of the planned retail space for more housing.

Several Connecticut communities have struggled with that trend because they seek modern stores, restaurants, bars, recreation businesses and similar attractions to boost their tax base and attract visitors. Conversely, affluent suburbs are usually cautious about more housing — particularly two- bedroom units and bigger — because of the potential for families with more children adding to school enrollments, thus driving up the local education budget.

Last year, the developer of hundreds of apartments at Brainerd Place in Portland told local officials that the market didn’t justify as much new commercial space as he’d planned; instead, he wanted the go-ahead to build additional apartments.

Also last year, a different developer told South Windsor that acreage long planned for new retail space simply couldn’t be built out that way. Instead, housing would need to be the central component, the company said.

East Hartford planners ultimately approved the revisions to the Silver Lane project, which includes a cutback in parking and an expansion of green space and landscaping on the site.

The event will take place from 8 to 10 a.m. on Thursday at the Wickham Memorial Library on Burnside Avenue.

EAST HARTFORD, Conn. — The town of East Hartford is partnering with the Connecticut Center for Advanced Technology to host the East Hartford Manufacturers Connect Summit this Thursday.

The event will take place from 8 to 10 a.m. at the Wickham Memorial Library, located at 656 Burnside Ave.

The summit is meant to unite local manufacturers, educators, workforce partners and business resource organizations. The activities will include networking, collaboration and resource sharing.

The program’s overall goal is to enhance the manufacturing ecosystem in East Hartford and across the region, according to a town release on Tuesday.

If successful, the event will connect employers with programs, funding and partnerships that facilitate innovation and workforce growth.

East Hartford Mayor Connor Martin will open the program with remarks at 8:30 a.m. Ron Angelo, president and CEO of the Connecticut Center for Advanced Technology, will speak afterwards.

Both leaders will place an emphasis on East Hartford’s role as a center for advanced manufacturing, as well as the significance of coordinated efforts between business, education and government.

A resource panel will include representatives from key state and federal organizations such as AdvanceCT, ReadyCT and ConnStep.

The panelists will talk about the tools and programs available to help manufactures in growth, export and workforce development.

When the resource discussion concludes, representatives from local education and workforce organizations, including the East Hartford Public Library, East Hartford Public Schools, CT State Community College Manchester and Goodwin University, will present on their active partnerships with local industry.

Representing their respective entities, those individuals will also showcase opportunities for collaboration in technical training and talent pipelines.

The summit will wrap up with a business panel including leaders from Horst Engineering, RSL Fiber Systems and Peening Technologies. They’ll discuss real-world experience, resource utilization and current obstacles facing the manufacturing sector.

Those in attendance will have a chance to engage directly with the speakers during a question-and-answer session and an open networking period.

A light breakfast will be made available, thanks to the Connecticut River Valley Chamber of Commerce.

Martin said in the release that manufacturing is at the heart of East Hartford’s economy. That’s what makes Thursday’s initiative important.

“This event is designed to strengthen connections between our local businesses, educators and state and federal partners, so that together, we can drive innovation, training and job growth for the next generation,” Martin said.

Dalton Zbierski is a digital content producer and writer at FOX61 News. He can be reached at .

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Former paper mill building at 87 Church Street in East Hartford

Brownfield remediation provides us with the opportunity to spark new development in our town while taking advantage of existing resources and protecting our environment.

The Town of East Hartford was awarded a $220,000 Brownfield Area-wide Revitalization (BAR) Planning Project grant from the Connecticut Department of Economic & Community Development in July of 2024. This funding will be used to examine the Burnside and Church Street Village Area with a goal of addressing potentially contaminated structures and to create a comprehensive plan to move the area forward.

You may view details of the grant, including the project application, budget, and assistance agreement here: Burnside and Church Street Village Area BAR Planning Project

The Development Department, in collaboration with Mayor Martin, has created an Advisory Committee to help guide the study of the revitalization and redevelopment of the area. More information in regards to the committee and the project can be found here: Brownfields Church Street Brownfields Revitalization Advisory Committee

What are brownfields?

Brownfields are parcels of land that have been previously developed but are now underutilized. A brownfield property has been contaminated in some way, or there is the perception that it has been contaminated based on a past use. Brownfields differ from greenfields, which are parcels of land which have never been developed and are still in their natural state.

Examples of brownfields:

Brownfield sites may include former factories, gas stations, auto repair sites, dry cleaners, railroad properties, homes, offices, or retail establishments and infilled landfills. Active sites are not considered brownfields.

Why care about brownfield redevelopment?

Developing brownfields allows us to preserve greenfields, protecting environmental resources for future generations. Remediating contamination and removing eyesores also help to attract new development and increase property values in the area.

Adaptive reuse of brownfield sites, for example, converting a former factory into apartment housing, can help preserve architectural heritage and preserve or enhance the community’s unique sense of place.

Why is brownfield development especially important in East Hartford?

Nearly all of East Hartford’s developable land has already been developed. In order to continue economic growth, it is important to build on brownfield sites. This will preserve the town’s remaining greenfields, revitalize neighborhoods, and grow the Town’s tax base.

Learn more about Connecticut’s brownfield remediation initiatives at www.ctbrownfields.gov, including nearby success stories at Hartford’s Colt Armory and Rockville’s Hockanum Mill. You may also learn about the federal Department of Environmental Protection’s efforts to rehabilitate brownfields at www.epa.gov/brownfields.

If you have further questions, you may contact our Development Department at (860) 921-7300.