Nonprofit moves to Middlebury

#MiddleburyCT #Veterans #MakeAHomeCT

Anita Pettengill, left, and Dan Telesco, right, flank their nonprofit’s sign at its new location in Middlebury. The couple’s nonprofit helps homeless veterans and those in crisis. (Marjorie Needham photo)

By MARJORIE NEEDHAM

Make A Home Foundation, a nonprofit that serves homeless veterans and those in crisis, quietly moved to Middlebury in April 2023. Its new home is in warehouse space at the back of 199 Park Road Extension.

Founders Anita Pettengill and Dan Telesco, a husband and wife duo, said they were inspired to start the nonprofit 14 years ago when they watched an Oprah Winfrey show featuring a homeless female vet sleeping in her car. Winfrey explained thousands of vets were homeless.

Telesco said, “We thought it was terrible that we should have one vet homeless, let alone thousands of them.” Pettengill said she believed it was humiliating for vets to be homeless. “Vets shouldn’t be homeless after what they’ve done for our country,” she said.

The two decided to form “Make A Home” to help homeless veterans. “It hasn’t been easy,” Pettengill said. “There’s no money out there.” She said when you become a nonprofit, you become professional beggars, and there are a lot of other nonprofits competing for the same donations.

She said once they started helping vets, they realized many other people were homeless and in terrible need. Telesco said they had things left over after helping vets, so when they got a call from Safe Haven asking if they could help a battered woman and her three kids, they said “yes.” The couple estimate they’ve helped more than 3,000 families in 46 Connecticut towns and cities over the past 14 years.

Asked for an example of what they provide to families, Pettengill said a couple would typically be given a queen bed, mattress, box spring, sheets and comforter; dresser; nightstand; two lamps; a kitchen table and four chairs; a sofa, end table and coffee table; and a coffee pot, toaster, dishes, silverware, blender, utensils, pots and pans, bowls and glasses. Depending on their needs and what is available, they might also get a TV, TV stand, microwave, bookcase and desk.

Pettengill said items they often run out of and then have to buy are pots and pans, kitchen utensils, toasters, coffee pots, dishes, small kitchen tables, dressers, night stands, and bed frames. Donations of all these items are welcome, as are monetary donations to buy them if needed.

They ask for donations that are not broken, stained ripped, faded, dirty, scratched up or covered in animal hair. They always try to give people matching dishes. Telesco said, “We think when you are coming out of homelessness and you have one blue and one white dish … it looks like you scavenged to find dishes.” He noted treating people with dignity is important.

Pettengill said they started with one red pickup and a little trailer. They were avid tag salers and knew they could find really good bargains at tag sales. They started asking sellers to let them come back when the sale ended in return for hauling away the items that hadn’t sold.

Now they have two 16′ GMC box trucks to use for pickups and deliveries. Unfortunately, the transmission has gone out in one truck and there’s no money for a replacement. They would be grateful for a donated transmission and the labor to install it.

Furniture for homeless veterans and those in crisis fills the Make A Home location. Surplus donations are periodically auctioned online, and auction items can be viewed at the Park Road location. (Marjorie Needham photo)

Donations of money and needed items are always welcome. The website, mahfct.org, is set up to take online donations, requests for furniture pickups (there is a charge for pickup) and volunteer applications.

You also can arrange to drop things off by calling 203-527-5100. The warehouse is open to the public Wednesday, Thursday and Friday from 9 am to 5 pm and on select weekend hours.

Items that can’t be used or are extra are auctioned off about once a month through online auctions announced on the website and on their Facebook page, www.facebook.com/makeahomect. Through the FB page, they offer live tours of the warehouse every Wednesday night from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. so you can see what’s there.

The online auctions are through Clearing House Estate Sales, Auction Ninja. You can see the results of the August auction at tinyurl.com/38ewuw8n.

Find them almost all the way to the back of 199 Park Road Extension by going in the second entrance when you are coming from Route 63. Once you’ve entered, head towards the back. As you turn left at one corner, their warehouse space will be on your left with parking in the front. Their email is mahfct@gmail.com.