Endless Neglect and Exhausted Solutions
The Friendship Service Center (FSC) shelter in New Britain is grossly mismanaged, mistreating its clients while the executives make 6-figure salaries. We’ve been hearing about this from people inside for years, and have been documenting it in our Oppression on the Streets newsletters and other exposure pieces. Most recently their discriminatory policies left a disabled woman out on the streets, and they still haven’t addressed long-time issues like their poor case management, serving rotten food, staff stealing donations, etc.
Their executive team constantly ignores us whether we email or come to their doorstep, yet they nonetheless have the time and energy to unleash a war of repression on residents and clients, threatening to kick out anyone who speaks up and going after a local activist’s job.
All the FSC executives care about is their salaries and public image. Maybe they’ll listen to their donors, or maybe the donors are also apathetic. Either way, let’s pump up the pressure.
On August 5th, we notified 5 of the FSC’s recurring top donors about the Friendship Center’s ongoing neglect and abuse, explaining that their donations fuel the abuse and line the pockets of FSC executives rather than providing effective services to help the homeless.
To hold the FSC accountable, we asked the donors to echo our demands and request a report from the FSC on how exactly they plan to implement changes in line with our demands.
We initially gave them a deadline of August 9th to get back to us, then pushed it to August 23rd. We promised to publish a report on what actions the top donors took, and so far we’ve only gotten two replies confirming they received our message.
These are the donors who are choosing to stay silent
They will seemingly continue to look the other way, acting like their money is going to a good cause. But they know the reality that they’re upholding the shelter executives’ greed and neglect.
Power Lies in the Hands of the People
Since both the FSC and their donors are unresponsive and neglectful, let’s turn up the heat. Let’s put them on blast. Let’s continue to put pressure where it matters to them and expose the mistreatment for what it is. The FSC executives cannot argue there’s a lack of funds when their loyal business partners continue to line their pockets, and these donors are not fulfilling any sort of moral responsibility to serve the community like they claim.
Turn up the heat with us
This week, join us for Phone Zaps to demand a response from the donors. Then, in the coming weeks, rally with us to further expose the Friendship Center as a place of lies and greed. So long as the institutions meant to serve the needs of the people continue to be part of the problem, we will keep fanning the flames of resistance. Hit us up and fan those flames with us.
Sources:
[1] https://fsc-ct.dm.networkforgood.com/emails/our-season-of-giving-begins-annual-appeal-auction
[2] http://www.asfdn.org/grants/grant-history
[3] https://cfgnb.org/2024-grants-initiatives/
[4] https://www.causeiq.com/organizations/connecticut-food-bank,061063025/
[5] https://fbcfct.org/foundation-reports/
[6] https://www.instagram.com/p/DMigLtbB0Ha/
Dare to Struggle 