Pitchin’ in at the Parish: Volunteer Leavens Love into Baked Goods for Hartford’s Homeless

Story by Shelley Wolf

HARTFORD – On a Wednesday afternoon in winter, Kimberly Nardone is sliding pans filled with homemade macaroni and cheese into the oven at the Franciscan Center for Urban Ministry in Hartford, which is attached to St. Patrick – St. Anthony Church. The creamy comfort food, prepared by Catholic parishioners, is destined for the hungry at a temporary, winter-only homeless shelter run by the city of Hartford.

Nardone, a parishioner of St. Patrick – St. Anthony Parish, added “Pasta Wednesdays” when she discovered that the shelter’s guests were receiving only one meal a week. She also brings Confirmation students together to make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches every other month for her parish’s sandwich ministry for the homeless.

And a few years back, when her parish was looking to add cookies to the sandwich ministry, Nardone persuaded a team of co-workers to bake once a month. When the pandemic hit, no one was driving into Hartford so she kept baking herself until COVID restrictions were lifted. Eventually, she accepted a leadership role and improved the baking production line.

Now cookies, brownies, quick breads and Bundt cakes are being handed out three times a week – along with sandwiches that are provided 365 days a year – through the Franciscan Center for Urban Ministry’s “sandwich window.”

“I think there’s a difference between giving out packaged goods versus something that somebody’s made from scratch or from a box,” Nardone says. “Somebody has taken the time out and specifically made it for you.”

All of this master organizing earned Nardone the St. Joseph Archdiocesan Medal of Appreciation in 2022, when she was nominated by St. Patrick – St. Anthony Parish for her exemplary volunteer service for its many homeless ministries. A parish of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Hartford, St. Patrick – St. Anthony is led by Franciscan priests, who strive to carry out the faith-based and charitable missions of Jesus in the manner of St. Francis.

“It’s a sacrifice of time, mostly. And to be able to share is rewarding. It goes back to the basics – ‘whatever you did for the least of my brothers you did for me,’” Nardone says, quoting Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew. “There’s so much that we can do just by doing a little. I get a little carried away. It can be addictive because now I can do just a little more and a little more.”

Nardone, 61, views herself as just “a cog in the wheel,” one of dozens of volunteers who make the homeless ministries at her parish run so smoothly. The ministries operate through teams of cooks and bakers, distribution teams, and still others who donate the ingredients.

Now semi-retired, Nardone was raised Catholic and resides in Colchester. She was introduced to St. Patrick – St. Anthony Parish in 2017, when the public accounting firm she worked for at the time moved its offices to Church Street in Hartford, across the street from the church.

“I kind of thought to myself, ‘If that’s not a message that I should really start going to daily Mass, I don’t know what is,’” she recalls. “Literally, I’d look out my office window, and there it is.” Nardone says she was also attracted to the parish when she learned it was run by Franciscan friars. “That just sort of made it a slam dunk.”

As a child in the 1970s, Nardone admits she was captivated by St. Francis of Assisi, the Italian saint who devoted himself to a life of poverty and caring for the sick and the poor. She learned about his inspiring life through a movie and, as a member of her public school choir, she especially loved singing the hymn “Prayer of St. Francis,” which left her pondering the lyrics.

“The words ‘it is in giving of ourselves that we receive’ – to me that says it all,” Nardone now says, reflecting on the wisdom of those lyrics, which were drawn from a prayer that has traditionally been attributed to the saint himself.

Once Nardone began attending daily Mass at St. Patrick – St. Anthony Church, she soon encountered the homeless. “It wasn’t uncommon to see some homeless fellows at morning Mass because they were trying to get warm. That’s how I got introduced to the many different ministries at St. Patrick’s, bit by bit, first the sandwich ministry, then the no-freeze shelter meals, and then baking,” she says.

For Nardone, nothing says love like baking. “My grandmother, my mother and my great grandmother were all bakers. Twice a year we have a group of cousins who get together to make some traditional recipes. So baking has always been a way of showing love toward family members, something that connects us in a lot of ways,” she says. “To me, that’s what baking is. It’s enjoyable, but it’s great to be able to share it with somebody.”

Now she is coordinating 27 friends and parish home bakers, arranging for two bakers to provide baked goods on the same day in an effort to lighten each baker’s load. “You’re trying to bake a dessert, whether it be cookies or a piece of cake, for 60 people. It can be overwhelming. You want it to be a labor of love.”

The bakers include many retired women, but also mothers who enjoy baking with their children. “They do it at home and bring in pre-packaged servings. So it’s something you can do at home with your kids. It’s a nice option for a lot of people,” she adds. Men pitch in, too. “I was surprised by some of the responses I got from men saying, ‘I’d love to make pancakes’ or ‘I’d love to make a certain type of dessert.’”

Pleasantly surprised by how many parishioners signed on to bake or buy ingredients, Nardone now uses a spreadsheet to keep track of them all. “I try to stay in touch with everybody to make sure nobody’s burned out, and that they’re still enjoying what they’re doing.”

These days, Nardone does more coordinating than actual baking, but she occasionally bakes cookies for the cause. She insists she is terrible at icing, but one of her daughters taught her how to decorate cookies for Valentine’s Day and St. Patrick’s Day.

“She showed me this method where you make the frosting, royal icing, and you tie dye it by putting in drops of food coloring. As it flows, it just sort of creates its own design,” Nardone explains. “When I’m itching to do something fun, I’ll do that.”

For more information on St. Patrick – St. Anthony Parish, including Mass times, participating in worship ministries, or volunteering for its many homeless ministries, visit the parish’s website at spsact.org.