The Newtown Interfaith Council discussed exploring new endeavors alongside their “Communities of Compassion” initiative at their Tuesday, March 12 meeting, conducted at Trinity Episcopal Church.

The council could not really discuss the progress of the “Communities of Compassion” initiative since Dr John Woodall, who is the main driving force for the project, was not in attendance. His absence paved the way for the council to discuss other endeavors they could pursue alongside “Communities of Compassion,” however.

Newtown Congregational Church Lead Pastor Matt Crebbin and Love Has a Home Here founder Bill Donaldson led the meeting and talked about wanting to do some other kind of “larger interfaith activity” in the community.

“Is there anything else this council had in mind, like if we could identify a need in the community and ask how we can get people to come together and deal with it,” Crebbin said at the meeting. “Not necessarily that we would solve it outright, but that we could at least help. What else can we do in addition to what we’re doing now?”

After discussing a few ideas, the group landed on trying to reach out and help any homeless individuals in town. Crebbin said that he would try to reach out to Social Services and see if they would be interested in either attending the next meeting or even just providing information about the topic.

The next NIC meeting was tentatively planned for Tuesday, April 9, at 4 pm.

The council encourages those interested in more information on NIC or any of its endeavors to follow their Facebook page.

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Reporter Jenna Visca can be reached at jenna@thebee.com.