The Cheryl Mehalik Luyster Fund at the Community Foundation of Middlesex County has generously awarded a grant of $2,000.00 to The Shoreline Soup Kitchens & Pantries (SSKP). Cheryl’s friends and family created the Fund to honor and remember Cheryl, a longtime Old Saybrook resident, and to support the causes she was passionate about.

This award was especially meaningful because Cheryl had been a longtime cook and volunteer for the Shoreline Soup Kitchen’s Wednesday meal at Grace Episcopal Church in Old Saybrook and had served as Team Leader for the meal site.“We are so grateful to receive this generous grant from The Cheryl Mehalik Luyster Fund,” said Patty Dowling. “Her caring spirit lives on in the hearts of all who knew her. This gift will provide support to a mission that she cared so deeply about: providing a place at the table for her neighbors.”

(l to r) Michael Urban and Joyce Hansel, SSKP volunteers, Patty Dowling, Executive Director of SSKP, Frank Luyster and Thayer Talbot, Senior Director, Programs & Operations of The Community Foundation of Middlesex County

Her husband, Frank Luyster, and Thayer Talbott, of the Community Foundation, presented the award to Patty Dowling, Executive Director of SSKP, along with several volunteers who fondly remembered working alongside Cheryl as members of the team of cooks at the Wednesday lunch.

“Cheryl’s commitment to her community and her determination to make an impact on the issues faced by her neighbors

will continue thanks to the generosity of her friends and family,” explained Cynthia Clegg, President & CEO of the Community Foundation. “We are honored to work with Frank and Cheryl’s closest friends to address basic needs through the Cheryl Mehalik Luyster Fund. They knew Cheryl best and knew her passions and hopes for her community. By working with the Community Foundation, because of its knowledge and resources, Cheryl’s legacy will continue in our communities today – and forever.”

The Shoreline Soup Kitchens & Pantries provides food and fellowship to people in need and educates the community about hunger and poverty, serving the Connecticut shoreline towns of Essex, Chester, Clinton, Madison, Old Saybrook, East Lyme, Lyme, Old Lyme, Killingworth, Westbrook and Deep River. Founded 25 years ago, in 1989, at the Baptist Church in Essex, the agency continues in its mission to feed the hungry in body and spirit.