2019-2020 Biennial Report
2019-2020 Biennial Report Dear Friends, We are pleased to share this Biennial Report to the Community covering the years 2019 and 2020—two years that were each exceptional in their own way, and that were both marked by an unprecedented outpouring of love and support from our community. Hands On Hartford is a diverse community of thousands of Barbara Shaw and Donna Manocchio individuals and families, faith groups, schools, civic and nonprofit organizations, corporations, public sector agencies, and donors from throughout Greater Hartford and beyond who have joined together out of an abiding devotion to caring for each other with compassion, justice, and generosity. At our heart, we are about serving neighbors, engaging volunteers, and connecting communities, and finding opportunities to ever deepen this work and address emerging needs. We are a community where each of us shares what we have so that we might all have what we need. In 2019, which now seems ever so long ago, we were thrilled to celebrate our 50th Anniversary. It was a year filled with walks down Memory Lane, celebrating and re-establishing connections, and raising up the amazing partners who have, since our beginnings as Center City Churches, made our work possible. Little could we have imagined what we would be called to do in 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic struck, and when every bit of our experience, capabilities, resources, and resolve were put to the test to continue to care for our neighbors. The thousands of people we serve annually are those who suffered the pandemic’s devastating impacts most deeply and immediately: people of color, people who have little to no income, senior citizens, people with disabilities, and people with complex physical and mental health needs.
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