On Friday, Feb 13th, Linda Kolton, the newly appointed Director of the FOCUS Bridgeport Center, and her husband Van, came to St. George to pick up frozen hams and turkeys that parishioners donated over the past 3 months. The initial charity project’s intent was to donate the hams and turkeys to local soup kitchens, but it was decided to forward these donations to the newly activated FOCUS Bridgeport Center who is working with Holy Ghost Church to organize a monthly weekend meal service for the children and families of Beardsley Elementary School. The first meal will be on Saturday, February 28 at 5:30PM at Holy Ghost Church. Thank you to those who donated the frozen hams and turkeys – they will go to good use!  Below please find a photo.

UPDATE from Feb 26th: Click onto the following link to view an update/newsletter from Linda Kolton talking about her experiences from the first month as the Director of the FOCUS Bridgeport Center.  FOCUS Bridgeport Feb 2026 Update.  Linda acknowledges St. George for some of our early assistance. 

As a reminder:
FOCUS (Food, Occupation, Clothing, Understanding, and Shelter) has the following Mission Statement:
As an expression of Christ’s love, FOCUS exists to serve the poor by bringing together Orthodox Christian churches and community partners to provide Food, Occupation, Clothing, Understanding, and Shelter and other assistance to address the needs of local communities.
 
FOCUS North America currently has set-up 12 Centers around the country, Bridgeport being the most recent addition.  The other 11 Centers include: Atlanta, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Detroit, Gateway City (St. Louis), Houston, Los Angeles, Minnesota, Orange County (Southern CA), Philadelphia, and Phoenix. 
 
Click onto the following link to learn more about FOCUS North America.