Founded in Faith. Rooted in Community. Driven by Hope.
nOURish BRIDGEPORT began with a simple decision: listen to the community, understand what neighbors needed, and take meaningful action.
Someone Had to Show Up
Some organizations are born in boardrooms. nOURish BRIDGEPORT was born in the heart of a community that needed someone to show up, and in the heart of a woman who could not look away.
As an ordained minister, Reverend Sara D. Smith, Esq. was no stranger to the struggles facing people living under the burdens of poverty.
When she arrived in Bridgeport to serve United Congregational Church of Bridgeport, the oldest institution in the city, gathered in 1695, she quickly realized that the surrounding neighborhood was carrying many of those burdens.
Reverend Sara put on her clerical collar and walked through the neighborhood, asking residents what they needed.
Again and again, she heard the same basic necessities: groceries, meals, education, clothing, and someone who cared.
Hunger, Poverty, and Unequal Access
Reverend Sara quickly learned that Bridgeport, Connecticut’s largest city with a population of more than 148,000, has a poverty rate of approximately 23 percent, more than twice the state average.
Acute income inequality disproportionately affects residents who are managing rising costs for food, childcare, housing, utilities, and transportation while wages remain stubbornly stagnant.
Bridgeport has also been identified by the USDA as a food desert, meaning that even when residents can afford groceries, healthy food may not be conveniently available in much of the city.
Many residents rely on convenience stores and inexpensive fast-food outlets that primarily sell highly processed foods that are high in calories and sodium but low in beneficial nutrients.
This combination has also led Bridgeport to be described as a food swamp. Research increasingly points to a connection between living in food deserts or food swamps and the development of chronic illness over time.
The Beginning of nOURish BRIDGEPORT
Reverend Sara has always believed that, regardless of which religion a person practices, faith should do something to change the world.
As she listened to her neighbors, she knew she had to act.
In 2009, Reverend Sara turned that belief into action. With a vision, a deep commitment to the community, and a small grant, she and five other members of United Congregational Church founded nOURish BRIDGEPORT, Inc.
The organization was built on the conviction that every neighbor deserves to be fed, welcomed, and cared for with dignity.
Building a Community Institution
Building a nonprofit from the ground up required more than good intentions. It required determination, hard work, committed volunteers, and partners willing to believe in a vision before it was fully formed.
By 2010, nOURish BRIDGEPORT was officially incorporated, and the original idea had already begun to take root.
Founded in 2009
Reverend Sara and five members of United Congregational Church launched the organization in response to community needs.
Incorporated in 2010
nOURish BRIDGEPORT became an officially incorporated nonprofit organization.
A Growing Team
The organization grew to include approximately 30 staff members, an active Board of Directors, and thousands of volunteers.
A $1.5 Million Organization
Program by program and partnership by partnership, nOURish developed into a substantial direct-service nonprofit.
Programs Created in Response to Real Needs
Today, nOURish BRIDGEPORT operates an ecosystem of direct service programs focused on food, education, and health.
Each program was created in direct response to a need identified within the community.
From the SUPER FOOD PANTRY serving thousands of people with fresh and healthy groceries, to the FEEL THE WARMTH MOBILE HOT MEALS serving meals to inadequately housed neighbors, each program reflects a refusal to accept hunger and inequity as inevitable.
Adult education classes help immigrants develop English language skills and prepare for success, while Connecticut’s first nonprofit indoor hydroponic farm grows fresh produce throughout the year.
A Leader Recognized. A Community Transformed.
Reverend Sara’s impact has been recognized throughout the greater Bridgeport community.
In 2020, nOURish BRIDGEPORT was named Non-Profit Partner of the Year by the Center for Family Justice.
That same year, Reverend Sara received the American Dream Award from the Connecticut Institute for Refugees and Immigrants in recognition of her work with refugee communities.
She has also received the Good Scout Award from the regional Boy Scouts of America, the Women’s Leadership Award from the Al-Aziz Islamic Center, the P.T. Barnum Leadership Award from the Barnum Festival, and the Community Impact Award from Notre Dame Prep School.
These honors reflect both the breadth of her work and the depth of its impact across communities of many different backgrounds.
Neighbors Supported With Dignity
For Reverend Sara, the real measure of success has never been recognition.
It is the mother leaving the pantry with groceries for her children. It is the baby receiving diapers and formula. It is the newcomer speaking a full sentence in English for the first time.
It is the neighbor sitting down to a hot meal on a Thursday evening and feeling, even for a moment, that they are not alone.
It is also the connection created when a volunteer who has what they need meets a neighbor who is struggling and both lives are changed by the experience.
“Food is a bridge that builds community.”
The Work Is More Important Than Ever
Food insecurity affects approximately 25 percent of Bridgeport residents, while an estimated 20 percent of children in the city go to bed hungry.
The average age at death for a Bridgeport resident is approximately 70, nearly two decades shorter than the life expectancy of someone living only miles away in Westport.
These are not conditions that nOURish BRIDGEPORT accepts as inevitable. They are the reason the organization continues to show up with urgency, compassion, and hope.
One Vision Became a Community Movement
nOURish BRIDGEPORT exists because one woman looked at her community, saw what it needed, and decided to do something about it.
It grew because others believed in that vision and joined the work.
Together, they continue to prove that when people work side by side to help their neighbors, hope is not only possible. It blooms.