Harvard Sponsors Charity Dinner

Students, city officials, and community activists came together for a Christmas dinner last night for a program dedicated to getting Cantabrigians off of the streets and on to their feet.

The Carey program, which currently enrolls about two dozen men, requires them to work and maintain good behavior in return for temporary housing and help in navigating the social services system.

The Harvard-sponsored dinner took place at the Cambridge Senior Center, which was decked out in poinsettias and ribbons.

“This started out as our little holiday dinner, and then it grew into this wonderful occasion,” said Zelia Pacheco-Kelleher, the former assistant director of the Cambridge multi-service center, which houses the program. “Harvard supplied the food and the students. This couldn’t have happened without Harvard.”

Members of the Harvard chapter of National Student Partnerships (NSP), which has supported the Carey program, helped plan and organize the event, which featured performances by the Harvard Din and Tonics and a string quartet from the Cambridge Symphony Orchestra.

“I thought it was great that the students got a chance to really talk with some of the people in the program,” said Erin M. Barringer ’05, an incoming director of the Harvard NSP. “That was really our goal with this dinner.”

Several men enrolled in the Carey program attended, along with a number of women from a sister program at the Cambridge Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA), which enrolls nine women.

Resident adviser Ally C. Fowler said he enjoyed the event and thought it would have a positive impact on the men from the program.

“It gives the guys an opportunity to see that you can live and enjoy being straight,” he said. “It gives them some hope.”

The event was catered by Harvard University Dining Services and Christmas-themed decorations were provided by students from Cambridge Rindge and Latin School.

Assistant City Manager Jill Herold attended the event, along with several officials from the Cambridge Department of Human Service Programs and leaders from local community service organizations.

Kirsten E. Lodal, the founder and chief executive officer of NSP, was also in attendance. She started the program four years ago while she was an undergraduate at Yale University. The Harvard chapter is the youngest of nine chapters of the organization.

“Our goal is to become friends to our clients in a way that sometimes the unfriendly government system won’t,” said Barringer.

The Din and Tonics performed their usual combination of a capella and comedy. Their antics drew applause and laughter from the audience. The string quartet performed traditional Christmas pieces.

The Carey program began ten years ago under the auspices of the City of Cambridge Department of Human Services. It is named for James Carey, an early enrollee who went on to work for the program before his recent death.

“We try to help these men get on their feet and on the road to self-sufficiency,” said Stephen E. Johnson, the program coordinator.