It’s on Monday and Wednesday afternoons that teams of about 60 volunteers from more than 20 churches get together and hit the streets of Groton and New London. Transporting necessities such as food, toiletries, clothing, and blankets, the teams of volunteers offer their time for one reason: to help the homeless.
President of Malta, Inc. Dick Krom said the organization under which these teams operate is a nonprofit, charitable, faith-based group of
volunteers who work together to meet the needs of the homeless in southeastern Connecticut. Krom has been president since the organization
started in 1999 out of the Pleasant Valley Church in Groton.
“We formed a board, went through the process of setting up bylaws and getting incorporated...it took about nine months,” he noted.
Malta, Inc.’s members began to help people on an individual basis, such as helping somebody get a room in a rooming house.
“Then it expanded into the street outreach,” Krom continued. “We started a street ministry and outreach on Jan. 12, 2001, where we go and meet the homeless where they are.”
Krom said the different teams travel to designated places at designated times, covering Groton and New London. The ministry recently expanded to Norwich on Friday evenings.
“A lot of it is donated,” Krom said, referring to the food and other necessities the different teams distribute on their trips. ”Some is purchased through donated funds…[more than] 30 churches help one way or the other, either through financial aid [or] donations.”
In September 2001, Malta purchased property in an apartment building in Groton City.
“We take families or single men in [there] on a transitional basis,” he said. He explained Malta will then help them get through crisis situations. Malta is currently working on developing a women’s house as well.
Krom’s reasoning behind all the hard work is twofold.
“For me, it’s seeing the volunteers interact with the homeless and
actually getting experience in outreach with people they normally wouldn’t be working with,” Krom said. “It’s always uplifting to reach out to others and help people, but to see people who would never do something like this come and get involved and get that experience, it really changes people.”
Malta, Inc. is based within Pleasant Valley Church, 20 Grove Avenue, Groton. For further information, contact Malta, Inc. at 860-448-9460 or Pleasant Valley Church at 860-446-1616.