Volunteers from nonprofit Impact Fairfield County (Impact FFC) recently decorated the outdoor garden at Inspirica’s main campus for the holidays, continuing the garden revitalization work they began in the fall.
Following the morning of weeding and planting, Inspirica’s CEO Denise Williams and Chief Development Officer Angela Ciminello thanked the volunteers for their on-going support by presenting a plaque formally dedicating the “Seeds of Hope Garden” to Impact FFC.
President, Denise Williams, Inspirica CEO.
Inspirica, the largest provider of services to the homeless in lower Fairfield County, was the recipient of Impact FFC’s inaugural $100,000 Impact Grant in 2016, which funded the creation of its Early Childhood and Parenting Program (ECPP). The “Seeds of Hope Garden” provides a vibrant and organic entrance to the building serving the ECPP and symbolizes the longstanding partnership between the two nonprofits forged from that grant.
Today’s ceremony included a ribbon-cutting and unveiling of the plaque on the garden’s gate. The plaque’s inscription included this quote:
“To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow.”
– Audrey Hepburn.
As Impact FFC’s Co-President Katharine Lumby remarked, “Hepburn’s quote reflects Impact’s mission perfectly, creating a better tomorrow for our local community.”
During the ribbon-cutting, Williams referred to the group of Impact FFC volunteers working on the garden as “our flowering angels,” and told the women gathered how “thrilled” she was that they “brightened up an unused community space which now provided a beautiful seasonal garden for our children to enjoy.”
Impact FFC Impact FFC is a collective women’s giving circle that engages all women of Fairfield County, CT in local philanthropy on a deeper level. The organization unites women by together providing transformational grants to local nonprofit organizations and strives to reach the underserved, improving the lives of those in their community.
In its first five years of giving, Impact FFC has awarded over $1 million of grant funding to nonprofit organizations throughout Fairfield County, including eight $100,000 Impact FFC Grants for new programs or the significant expansion of existing programs, smaller general operating grants to its Finalists, and one 5-Year Anniversary Core Mission Grant of $50,000.
CEO, Steviann Martines, Impact FFC Co-President, Angela Ciminello, Inspirica Chief Development Officer.
For more information about Impact FFC, visit www.impactffc.org.
About Inspirica Inspirica is one of the largest providers of services to the homeless in Connecticut and the largest in lower Fairfield County. The organization serves individuals and families who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless.
Inspirica houses approximately 350 people each year and serves more than 700 people. Twelve facilities are operated in lower Fairfield County and provide an extensive array of support services including vocational training, workforce education, job placement, housing placement, job & housing retention support, early childhood & parenting services, children’s services, counseling, case management and much more.
Inspirica is one of only a handful of organizations in the nation that address the physical component of homelessness and its underlying root causes on a single, powerful end-to-end platform.