Women’s Fellowship Breakfast At NCC

Kathy Burton of Church World Service (CWS) and Newtown Congregational Church (NCC) member Margo Hall were guest speakers Saturday morning, October 20, at the Women’s Fellowship breakfast in the Great Room at Newtown Congregational Church.

Ms Burton brought news of the 60 years of humanitarian disaster and refugee work of CWS, and Mrs Hall told her personal story of help from CWS when she came to the United States from East Germany in 1953.

It was through the assistance of CWS that her mother, father, younger brother, and herself were able to leave war-torn East Germany when she was a girl, said Mrs Hall. A suitcase, one crate, and a few belongings were all that her family was allowed to bring with them when they were taken from their village of Aachen to West Germany and Berlin, on to a train, and finally to the docks and a boat to America, Mrs Hall said, sharing her story with the breakfast gathering. The worn suitcase used for the relocation was at her side as she spoke. The family was ultimately settled in Bristol. She later met her husband, Robert Hall, of Newtown while serving as an au pair in town. Mrs Hall has been the Judge of Probate Court in Newtown for 16 years.

Breakfast guests viewed a film brought by Ms Burton in which CWS projects were illustrated. Fair chairperson Linda Manganaro presented cash donations from the NCC Women’s Fellowship and from proceeds of the Autumn Fair to Ms Burton to help in the mission of CWS. 

Ms Burton works out of the Middletown CWS office, one of 23 regional offices. The Middletown office serves Rhode Island, downstate New York, and all of Connecticut. CWS assists through response to disasters, help to refugees, and long-term ongoing help in such places as New Orleans. The long-term work involves building houses and communities for the victims of flood and famine.

It also works with volunteer partners in this country and abroad, where interpreters can help local people buy supplies made in their own countries to bolster their own economies. The newest CWS project is one known as IRIS (Integrating Refugee and Immigrant Services), resettling displaced people from Iraq.