
Cristina and Kayla Garcia shared their story with The Lakeville Journal Nov. 19.
Jennifer Almquist
Cristina and Kayla Garcia shared their story with The Lakeville Journal Nov. 19.
Here in the Northwest Corner of Connecticut, where the first frost comes early, and black bears hibernate, the woods are inhabited by hundreds of people sleeping rough.
There has been a 14% rise in homelessness in Connecticut since 2022. There are now 482 “people in need of homeless response systems”, according to Connecticut Coordinated Access Network (CAN), many of them senior citizens.
Cristina and Ricardo Garcia asked a simple question, “Why is there no place in the world for us?”
The Garcias, with their 22-year-old daughter Kayla, are a family who spend each night sleeping in a tent city in Waterbury. They take a bus in the morning to the Gathering Place in Torrington for warmth and showers, then eat their meals together at the Community Soup Kitchen in town. Their fierce desire to stay together as a family has its genesis in years of suffering, deprivation, substance abuse, prison, and escape.
Family is all that matters to them. It is all they have.
“My daughter is shy, so speak quietly to her,” Cristina whispered, explaining further that Kayla and her sister Jessica, who is 18, are on the autism spectrum. Cristina and her girls escaped years ago from her abusive husband. Her girls were then taken from her when they were 12 and 14. Cristina, who has been clean for two years, suffered from substance use disorder. It has been six years since Cristina has seen Jessica.
Her daughter Kayla, her long braids tucked under a watch cap, was wearing headphones to mask out loud shouts of men heatedly discussing the mistreatment of criminals. Kayla’s expressive brown eyes gave away her discomfort. The homeless resource center was packed with women and men in from the November cold; some on cellphones, some waiting with their towels for a warm shower, others quietly sipping hot coffee.
The Gathering Place in Torrington is a daytime drop-in center for the 482 homeless neighbors who live in Litchfield County, Connecticut. The food pantry at Friends in Service to Humanity (FISH) in Torrington serves more than 2,000 people.
There are currently 51 shelter beds in Northwest Connecticut: 16 in Winsted and 35 in Torrington with 5 restricted to veterans. As of today, there will be 30 overflow shelter beds for the winter season.
Cristina Garcia, left, working at the Community Soup Kitchen in Torrington.Jennifer Almquist
At the Community Soup Kitchen in Torrington’s Trinity Episcopal Church Nov. 19, Cristina folded her family’s laundry on the table she had just cleared from the breakfast crowd. She paused to talk and reflect on her difficult journey.
Cristina Garcia:My husband Ricky just started working. He’ll be coming home with literally $72. a week. Sometimes I feel like no one cares. We’ve been clean for two years. We’ve had our ups and downs with our kids. My adoptive mom passed away and my dad passed away in a housefire. So, I don’t have any family. I had an abusive relationship basically, which I escaped with my daughters because it was very bad. My new husband Ricky and I met here, and we’ve been together for almost four years. Because of my earlier situation, my kids were taken from me.
Jennifer Almquist:How old were they when they were taken from you?
CG: They were taken away for six years when Kayla was 14.
JA:During that time were you allowed to have any communication, or hear how the girls were doing?
CG:Like I said, I was in an abusive relationship, and he was in charge. Kayla came back to me last January. It was rough. It is hard when you have no family, nothing to fall back on. Family is just me, my husband and my kids. Now there’s the Gathering Place, and the soup kitchen people that I consider family. They open their arms to us and have been very good, very kind to us.
JA:Did you have housing at some point?
CG:I did, but I lost my housing voucher because I was out of the household for over 20 days. I was incarcerated due to charges from five years ago. I was legally married, but they wouldn’t take in consideration the impact on the girls. The rent was still being paid - it was still being paid the whole time but they took the voucher away. So now it’s like, “do you have a lawyer - somebody to step forward?” Nobody comes forward. We didn’t appeal. We lost everything, so altogether we’ve been out on the street since I got out, so in and out, trying to keep the apartment, but we got notice from the city to quit the apartment, so now we’re on the streets.
JA: Do the charges on your record mean you have to start all over again to get a housing voucher?
CG: We’re just hoping for another voucher.
JA:Is that a lot of pressure when you are trying to stay straight?
CG:It is great to keep my mind straight by volunteering at the Soup Kitchen. When we first started coming here, my husband and I kept telling the boss DJ, if you guys need help, just let us know. You’re helping us out by giving us breakfast, giving us lunch. Suddenly one day the foundation that helps them provide the food wanted to interview somebody that was coming here. Someone that could explain to them the impacts, and how welcoming it is here. They interviewed me, and since that day I’ve been volunteering here. I basically go to the Gathering Place in the morning, take the shower and do laundry, come straight here by 9:30. From that time until around 2:30 I work in the kitchen and prep and serve food. I like it because it’s community. I love being here just because they are so kind to us. My daughter has a hard time talking to new people or getting to know new people. She has a close relationship with someone here now.
JA: What was her living situation when you weren’t with her?
CG: Kayla and Jessica were in foster care. I had no access to anything. Now it’s like starting all new, trying to apply for Social Security, Kayla’s been denied numerous times, and getting a copy of her birth certificate is expensive. That’s what I’m going through right now. She needs help. They say “we can’t help” because they don’t think she has that many issues because she doesn’t hear voices, and she’s not, in their minds, crazy like other people. Kayla does have mental health issues. Jessica didn’t start talking until she was six. It’s just sad that people don’t take in consideration what the impact of situations like being in foster care, or being homeless, are on kids. Especially if you’re a sensitive kid. Kayla is 22 but her mentality sometimes isn’t like her age.
JA: How does Kayla do with the sleeping arrangements and the cold?
CG: No, it’s horrible. All you just have is a tent in the world. People take your stuff; you can’t trust anybody -that’s just how it is. We have a small U-Haul as a storage unit that is expensive. We had to get rid of most of our stuff. It’s just hard, really hard especially with the holidays coming up.
JA: How do you three get warm in your tent?
CG:We layer up with four blankets on, then jackets and sleeping bags. Ricky puts a wooden pallet under the tent, but it’s like sleeping on the floor.
JA: What are you doing for Thanksgiving?
CG:The soup kitchen is not open on Thanksgiving. When you’re homeless you don’t get a break, you don’t get time, the days are endless. Holidays are just another day, not like anything special. We can’t plan anything. We have no way to cook anything. Every day in the woods, it’s just eating out of cans. We may not be able to have a Thanksgiving feast this year, but for Christmas, for my kids and my step kids, there’s no hope of getting them something special. Sometimes I just feel like I’m screwed. I just feel like as much as I try, it’s like I’m trying for what is not possible. It’s hard to keep hoping. These holiday times hurt the most. This is our first holiday back together in six years now that she’s back with us. I want am waiting until my youngest is 21 and graduates this June. For her to be allowed to come home, I must have housing. I feel like it might be a lot to ask, but I just want my family back together.
JA:What are you grateful for?
CG: Kayla loves her stepdad, and he’s very good to us. He walks up the mountain to work at Target. He walks because he can’t drive. We want to get him a bike. Hopefully by December the warming center will reopen. Lori at the Gathering Place helps us so much. She’s an amazing person. I had open heart surgery. They put in a pacemaker that needs replacing, but they can’t do the surgery and then discharge me to the street, so my surgery is being put off. I have seizures, so I need a calm setting. I’m grateful for Lori because she watches out for us. I have met amazing people through her, like the people in this kitchen, for DJ and Bill, and the opportunity to give back, you know. It’s important because I want to make sure I stay on track with my sobriety. Being around positive people helps me. I am trying not to cry. I want to have everyone together for Thanksgiving.
Amanda Freund of East Canaan will appear on the television show "Shark Tank" on April 4 to pitch CowPots.
CANAAN — Fans of the television show “Shark Tank,” stay tuned. On Friday, April 4, Amanda Freund of East Canaan will be facing the panel, imploring members to invest in her unique product: cow poop.
Freund and her father Matthew Freund produce and market CowPots, which are made from the abundance of manure found on their dairy farm. Matthew Freund, realizing cows were producing more manure — 100 pounds per cow per day — than was needed for fertilizing fields for crops, came up with the concept of the pots. Years of trial-and-error experimentation finally resulted in success. In 2006 he began selling the biodegradable pots using 100% composted manure to local stores. Now the pots can be found in outlets across the country, as well as internationally.
Amanda Freund — after graduating from Cornell University’s School of Agriculture, doing a stint working as a legislative aide and spending two years in Zambia as part of the Peace Corps — returned to the farm and now heads up the marketing part of the business.
Freund recently spoke about the USDA Rural Development Value Added Producer Grant they received. As part of that, the business is supported through Berkshire Agricultural Ventures, which helps get grants for investing in marketing. One of the consultants they deal with sent in a submission for appearing on “Shark Tank.”
“I guess they were intrigued enough to take it to the next step,” Freund said.
The program is an American reality business series dating back to 2009. Contestants seek investments and in return give up equity in their enterprises. They may receive offers for the amount being requested, multiple offers, an amount too low or nothing at all.
Freund had a phone introduction with the show’s representatives last June and had meetings with producer teams almost every week after that. Upon submitting reams of documents, including business analyses and digital content, she flew out to SONY Studios in Los Angeles in September to tape the program. “I was told I wouldn’t know if the segment would air until three weeks before,” she said, “and to the day, that’s when I heard.”
Freund smiled, remembering how she was trying to figure out ways to “make a splash about poop” on the show and thought about bringing a live cow onto the stage. But that endeavor proved to be “udderly expensive,” so she opted for an inflatable one. She said she watched a lot of previous broadcasts to get a sense of what the panelists, known as “sharks,” were looking for and determined they each seemed to have a particular interest. She decided to focus her presentation on environmental sustainability, promoting the idea of providing an alternative to plastic and peat.
“It felt very grass roots being able to get that exposure on a national stage,” she said. “I felt solid in my conviction of being able to share our product with millions.”
Freund said the show also gave her an opportunity to showcase the packaging aspect of the business which they are seeking to increase, since CowPots have a limited seasonal demand. She showed an example of the product that can be used to ship wine bottles.
“Shark Tank” isn’t the first time CowPots were featured on a syndicated television show. In 2007, Matthew Freund appeared on an episode of “Dirty Jobs” with Mike Rowe, which was well received.
“Shark Tank” airs on ABC at 8 p.m.
LAKEVILLE — The Hotchkiss School opened the girls varsity lacrosse season with a big win in the snow against Kingswood Oxford School.
The Bearcats won 19-0 in a decisive performance March 26. Twelve different players scored for Hotchkiss, led by Coco Sheronas with four goals.
Coco Sheronas scored four goals for Hotchkiss in the snowy 2025 season opener.Photo by Riley Klein
Kingswood Oxford is in the process of rebuilding its girls lacrosse program after some time without a team. The first game of the season gave the Kingswood coaches a chance to see their team play and rework position assignments.
At gametime, Downing Field became enshrouded in a veil of snow flurries. Players kept moving to stay warm with the temperature around 39 degrees.
The mercy rule kicked in during the second quarter when the lead entered double digits, causing a running clock to tick for the rest of the game.
Eleanor Helm scored once against Kingswood Oxford.Photo by Riley Klein
In addition to four goals by Sheronas, MaryHelen Cooey and Charlotte Dorman scored three each and the following players scored once: Eleanor Helm, Lily Lavigne, Lilah Crispino, Kailyn Willa, Marygrace Lawry, Lila Snow, Harper Semlies, Allison Wick and Emma Ohler.
Hotchkiss will play the next two games on the road before hosting Canterbury School April 9 at 3 p.m.
Allison Wick, left, and Kailyn Willa rejoice after a goal March 26.Photo by Riley Klein
FALLS VILLAGE — Principal Ian Strever announces the second quarter marking period Honor Roll at Housatonic Valley Regional High School for the 2024-2025 school year.
Grade 9: Parker Beach (Cornwall), Mia Belter (Salisbury), Lucas Bryant (Cornwall), Addison Green (Kent), Eliana Lang (Salisbury), Alison McCarron (Kent), Katherine Money (Kent), Mira Norbet (Sharon), Abigail Perotti (North Canaan), Karmela Quinion (North Canaan), Owen Schnepf (Wassaic), Federico Vargas Tobon (Salisbury), Emery Wisell (Kent).
Grade 10: Sophia Camphouse (Sharon), John DeDonato (Salisbury), Adelyn Diorio (North Canaan), Sydney Howe (North Canaan), Daniel Lesch (Cornwall), Finian Malone (Sharon), Meadow Moerschell (Kent), Jackson Olson (Salisbury), Logan Padelli (North Canaan), Ishaan Tantri (Salisbury), Ivy Zheng (North Canaan).
Grade 11: Lily Beurket (Cornwall), Olivia Brooks (Salisbury), Mollie Ford (Falls Village), Anna Gillette (Salisbury), Neve Kline (Salisbury), Alexa Meach (North Canaan), Ibby Sadeh (Falls Village), Celeste Trabucco (Kent) Silas Tripp (Falls Village), Alex Woodworth (Salisbury).
Grade 12:Tyler Anderson (Sharon), Zachary Bezerra (Kent), Bernice Boyden (Sharon), Daniela Brennan (North Canaan), Amelia Dodge (North Canaan), Madison Gulotta (Sheffield), Harper Howe (North Canaan), Tess Marks (Salisbury), Manasseh Matsudaira (Cornwall), Lola Moerschell (Kent), Diana Portillo (North Canaan), Olivia Robson (Salisbury), Gabriela Titone (Salisbury).
Grade 9: Krystin Ackerman (North Canaan), Travis Barber (Cornwall), Max Bochnovich (Salisbury), Nico Bochnovich (Salisbury), Logan Bronson (Cornwall), Zaira Celso-Cristobal (Sharon), Sadie Chapell (Salisbury), Tess Churchill (Salisbury), Niki Clark (Salisbury), Caitlin Devino (North Canaan), Louise Faveau (Salisbury), Celestia Galvin (Sharon), Samuel Garcia Pulido (North Canaan), Beatrice Gifford (Kent), Madeline Johnson (Salisbury), Marlow LaPointe (Falls Village), Ayden Lemmy (Falls Village), Paul Losh (Falls Village), Chase Lowell (North Canaan), Lily McCabe (Salisbury), Logan Miller (Falls Village), Bridger Rinehart (Salisbury), Vilija Salazar (Salisbury), Camila Sanchez Guerrero (Cornwall), Camdyn Tallon (North Canaan), Schuyler Thompson (Falls Village), Juliette Trabucco (Kent), Payton Wagner (North Canaan), Jessica Watkins (Kent), Olivia Whitney (North Canaan).
Grade 10: Bennett Wyatt Bayer (Salisbury), Selena Black (Cornwall), Georgie Clayton (Salisbury), Christian DeDonato (Salisbury), Natasha Dennis (North Canaan), Layla DiDomenico (Kent), Carmela Egan (Salisbury), Kellie Eisermann (Salisbury), Levi Elliott (Millerton), Lydia Fleming (North Canaan), Grace Graney (Falls Village), Alexa Hoadley (Kent), Jonas Johnson (North Canaan), Aiden Krupa (Torrington), Makenzie Lidstone (Salisbury), Francisco Mendoza Ratzan (North Canaan), Daniel Moran (Norfolk), David Nam (Sharon), Gustavo Portillo (North Canaan), Rivers Richard (North Canaan), Darwin Wolfe (Falls Village), Nathan Zani (Ashley Falls).
Grade 11: Elizabeth Allyn (Salisbury), Steven Barber (Cornwall), Victoria Brooks (Salisbury), Katherine Crane (North Canaan), Richard Crane (North Canaan), Arianna Danforth Gold (Cornwall), Mia DiRocco (Cornwall), Shanaya Duprey (North Canaan), Allegra Ferri (North Canaan), Elizabeth Forbes (Wassaic), Maureen Graney (Falls Village), Taylor Green (Kent), Chloe Hill (Salisbury), Adam Hock (Kent), Hannah Johnson (North Canaan), Madelyn Johnson (North Canaan), Delanie Keeley (New Marlboro), Madison Melino (Austerlitz), Ayden Wheeler (Amenia).
Grade 12: Lucas Caranci (North Canaan), Sidney Crouch (Cornwall), Dylan Deane (North Canaan), Tessa Dekker (Falls Village), Cole Dennis (North Canaan), Leah Drislane (North Canaan), Sara Huber (Salisbury), Dustin Kayser (North Canaan), Rosemary Koller (North Canaan), Kylie Leonard (North Canaan), Katelin Lopes (Falls Village), Khyra McClennon (Amenia), Jassim Mohydin (Salisbury), Patrick Money (Kent), Mason O’Niel (Salisbury), Tristan Oyanadel (Falls Village), Wendy Santiago-Leyva (Salisbury), Elinor Wolgemuth (Salisbury).
Grade 9: Edwin Alonzo Alonzo (North Canaan), Robert Boyden (Sharon), Peyton Bushnell (Falls Village), Winter Cheney (Cornwall), Ayva Fenn (Torrington), Luca Floridis (Salisbury), Angel Gonzalez (Salisbury), Kogan Lawrence (Amenia), McKenzie Lotz (Ashley Falls), Dany Martinez (North Canaan), Wyatt Merwin (Salisbury), Nathan Young (Cornwall).
Grade 10: Byron Bell (Cornwall), Sofia Bindley (Cornwall), Karen Chavez-Sanchez (Salisbury), Braeden Duncan (Salisbury), Wiley Fails (Salisbury), James Flores (Kent), Jasper Oyanadel (Falls Village), Marlene Perez (North Canaan), Carson Riva (North Canaan), Ryan Segalla (Salisbury), Alanna Tatro (North Canaan).
Grade 11: Peter Austin (Kent), Everet Belancik (Cornwall), Carlos Castellanos Cruz (Falls Village), Ashton Cooper (Salisbury), Christopher Crane (North Canaan), Nicholas Gonzalez (Cornwall), Kierra Greene (North Canaan), Marc Hafner (Falls Village), Abram Kirshner (Kent), Riley Mahaffey (Amenia), Simon Markow (Cornwall), Isabella Pugo Dominguez (North Canaan), Deiby Romero Gualan (North Canaan), Gabriele Rooney (Falls Village), Melanie Rundall (Kent), Ava Segalla (Salisbury), Lauren Sorrell (North Canaan).
Grade 12: Brandt Bosio (Salisbury), Jake Bosio (North Canaan), Madeline Collingwood (South Egremont), Ian Crowell (North Canaan), Madison DeWitt (North Canaan), Rose Fitch (Cornwall), Ava Gandarillas (North Canaan), Abigail Hogan (North Canaan), Antonis Karampasis (North Canaan), Ellanor Karcheski (North Canaan), Jonathan Leal-Santiago (North Canaan), Kyle McCarron (Kent), Ledvia Orellana-Lemus (North Canaan), Olivia Peterson (Sharon), Taylor Terwilliger (North Canaan), Emil Urbanowicz (Cornwall), Jayme Walsh (Salisbury), Abigail White (North Canaan), Junxin Zhang (Kent).
ANCRAMDALE — Thomas Ditto of Ancramdale, born Thomas David DeWitt Aug. 11, 1944 in New York City changing his surname to Ditto at marriage, passed peacefully on Pi Day, March 14, 2025. He was a husband, father, artist, scientist, Shakespeare scholar, visionary, inventor, actor, mime, filmmaker, clown, teacher, lecturer, colleague, and friend. Recipient of numerous grants, awards and honors in both the arts and sciences, a Guggenheim and NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts fellow, he was a creative genius beyond his time. In addition to authoring scores of papers, he held several patents and invented the first motion capture system and the Ditto-scope, a radically new kind of telescope. He was a pioneer in computer generated video, film, and performance.
When not hard at work, he was always there to help when needed and he knew how to bring smiles to faces. He loved his family and pets and was supportive of his wife’s cat rescue work.
He is survived by wife Beverly (Botto), son David, sister Alice Pero and nieces and nephews in the extended family. He was predeceased by his parents David and Madlyn Dewitt and sister Peggy.
Memorial contributions may be made to any of the following non-profits.
Collaborative Cats Inc. PO Box 88, Ancramdale, NY 12503 www.collaborativecats.org
eba inc. dance theatre company, PO Box 145, Albany, NY 12201 www.eba-arts.org
Wave Farm transmission arts WGXC 90.7 FM PO Box 13 Acra, NY 12405 www.wavefarm.org
American Astronomical Society 1667 K Street NW, Suite 800 Washington DC 20006 www.aas.org
American Cancer Society 2678 South Road, Suite 103, Poughkeepsie, NY 12601. www.cancer.org
A Celebration of Life memorial service will take place at a future date and will be announced on the funeral home website.
Arrangements have been entrusted to the Scott D. Conklin Funeral Home, 37 Park Ave., Millerton, NY 12546. To send an online condolence visit www.conklinfuneralhome.com