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Workcampers Return From Biloxi And ‘Very Impactful Trip’

Published: Jul 27, 2024 8:00 am

Newtown Ecumenical Workcamp Servants (NEWS) has safely returned from its 2024 service trip, having spent a week in the Gulf Coast city of Biloxi, Mississippi.

NEWS this year had 31 campers and nine chaperones travel to Biloxi, where they again worked with Back Bay Mission to coordinate projects. The trip was June 29-July 7.

The group worked on two homes, primarily doing carpentry work, re-siding, and painting each home. The campers also spent a day at Back Bay Mission, working at the food pantry stocking shelves there; Loaves and Fishes, preparing meals and serving breakfast and lunch; and Micah Day Center, assisting the unsheltered with many services that were offered including showers, job hunting and social services.

It was, according to organizers, a very impactful trip for all.

There was also time to have some fun. NEWS enjoyed a fireworks show at a marina on July 4, dined at The Shed BBQ one night, and spent time in New Orleans on their way back to Newtown.

NEWS also did something new this year. The group welcomed van sponsors, hosting magnets with company names on the work vans. Rob Rozz Plumbing, House to Home Builders, CompIntelligence, Between2Ears, Total Pool and Spa, Tim Conlan Company, Morganti Group, Stockwell Agency, and The Station Dance Studio all responded to the offer to be part of the group’s sponsorship this summer.

Newtown Ecumenical Workcamp Servants — 31 young adult campers and nine chaperones — left Newtown at 6 am June 29, heading to Biloxi, Miss., for this year’s service trip. The group spent eight days living and working in the Gulf Coast city.—photos courtesyLaura Terry

The group worked on two homes, primarily doing carpentry work, re-siding, and painting.

Newtown Congregational Church Senior Pastor Matt Crebbin addresses NEWS workcampers and chaperones before everyone begins a day of service in Biloxi, Miss.

Workcampers worked alongside regular local volunteers at Loaves and Fishes soup kitchen.

The workcampers also spent time at Micah Day Center, which offers services to many unsheltered residents of Biloxi.

NEWS members with the owner of one home they worked on earlier this month. Fred (front row, center) joined NEWS members for lunch, and he was also gifted with a NEWS T-shirt, a Ben’s bell, a quilt from Newtown Congregational Church, and a lighthouse centerpiece.

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Nobody is suggesting shutting the doors on new neighbors. What neighboring towns are doing, and what we should be doing too, is to tap the brakes on all of the multi-family residential development proposals so that we can spend 6 months updating our regulations such that if you want to build dense residential housing here, XX percent of it needs to be affordable (we will never make any headway on increasing our percentage of affordable housing otherwise, short of 8-30g), and the rest needs to be done in as low an impact manner as possible. Low impact on traffic, health & safety, the environment and on the cost of town services.

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Hey, there you go! Richard solved it. Thanks, that seems so easy- we'll just get rid of the 2nd amendment and the Supreme Court. Seriously, the 2nd amendment doesn't create violent criminals or mental illness. The Supreme Court doesn't create violent criminals or mental illness. The problem is not the tools, but the criminals & the mental illness. The state of Connecticut seems to be focused on the tools, like Richard, while ignoring the users of those tools.

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Ned, please familarize yourself with 8-30G, and then please share the unique flaws that may be helpful in formulating a denial An 8-30g project can be denied only on very narrow grounds – i.e., if it presents health, safety or other concerns that exceed a town’s need for affordable housing. According to the TOG website, “projects cannot be rejected for incompatibility with a Town’s Plan of Conservation and Development (POCD); density; traffic congestion; height; aesthetics; concerns of neighbors or the community; and failure to comply with local zoning regulations.” 8-30g proposals are rarely denied by planning and zoning officials because the burden of proof on appeal is on the town. Appeals are costly, but a municipality can be successful in a court case if it has sufficiently established that the concerns leading to denial are factual and substantive.

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Workcampers Return From Biloxi And ‘Very Impactful Trip’

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