Homes With Hope, the nonprofit dedicated to ending homelessness in Fairfield County, has operated The Gillespie Center and Hoskins Place (emergency shelters for men and women respectively) along with their food pantry, since 1984. But the space, located at 45 Jesup Road, wasn’t serving the people who needed it as well as CEO Helen McAlinden knew it could. For one thing, the women’s dormitory was only able to access the community room by going outside. Or take the food pantry— it was held in a dark space that volunteers and employees often struggled to lug large, heavy donations up to. In 2024, Homes With Hope began a major, $1 million renovation, and in January of 2025, it officially reopened. “We redesigned the whole thing so that everything is client-centered,” explains Helen. “Everybody has the same access to the community room, and everybody has an opportunity to live more comfortably.”
In the downstairs space, the women now can easily access the community room, where “every night somebody from a synagogue, a church, or a community group makes the food [we serve], so it’s made with love in somebody's home,” says Helen. “It's a great opportunity for our community to build relationships—sometimes you see the families eating with the people that we serve. It's special.” (To sign up to donate food, go to hwhct.org/food). The renovated space has room for four women and 15 men in the dormitories, as well as overflow beds for one extra woman and up to three extra men, and an isolation room if needed. All the bathrooms were updated to be ADA compliant, and there are new quilts on the beds donated by Southern Connecticut Modern Quilt Guild. “We really believe in treating people with dignity and respect,” says Helen.
Perhaps the biggest changes came to the food pantry. There’s now a dumbwaiter that can carry up to 300 pounds up and down the stairs, which is hugely helpful for shoppers, employees, and volunteers with large loads of food. The room itself has been updated— the previous version had no heat or A/C, the new one has both— and there are new shelving units and bright windows. The way the food pantry works has changed, too. Previously, “we'd pack a bag of non-perishable items and we would take it down to the clients,” says Katharine Murray, the Director of Marketing and Development. “But quite often we would find people rummaging through the bags, taking out things they might not prefer, or things they might be allergic to. We were giving them what we thought they wanted, versus knowing what they wanted.” Thanks to research done in partnership with Sacred Heart University, the model is now that clients come and “shop” like they would in any other market, once a week. And it’s not just non-perishables anymore: thanks to a new refrigeration and freezing system, the pantry can offer fresh foods including vegetables, fruit, cheese, milk, butter, and meat, donated by partners including Trader Joe’s, The Westport Farmer’s Market, Wakeman Town Farm, and the Greens Farms Garden Club. Stew Leonard’s also donates baked goods once a week. “And the other thing that we have, which is really important to our clients, is personal hygiene and household products. We did not have those before,” says Katharine. The expanded offerings have expanded their reach, too: “We've doubled—nearly tripled— the amount of people we're serving. It’s now around 120 shoppers each week, which is cascaded across families to about 500 people,” Katharine says. To support their pantry, donations are always needed, and you can see what’s most in demand at hwhct.org/food-1.
The new Gillespie Center and Hoskins Place facilities are welcoming not just for their clients— Helen is happy to show anyone who would like to tour around. (You can reach her at 475-225-5292.) Another good example of their neighborly spirit is the new meeting room upstairs, which Katharine says will be used both for trainings for Homes With Hope staff and volunteers as well as made available for other nonprofits in the area. “Lots of people are looking for amazing space, and we can share ours with the community,” says Katharine. Her attitude speaks to the core of what Homes With Hope does. “Not everyone has a home—including people in Westport—and for those people, this place is a refuge,” says Helen. “This is a place to be taken care of from A to Z, and to get back on your feet.”
To donate, volunteer, or for more information, visit hwhct.org