Thank you for your support of Rays of Hope Gala on Friday, May 6, 2016!
Net proceeds benefit Pacific House men's shelter and the programs and services that help clients regain independence.

PARTY PHOTOS- were you there?! Check out the photo gallery of guests!

Patricia C. Phillips was honored with the Rays of Hope Award for her vision as co-founder of Pacific House and her years of guidance and dedication! Read about Pat's many years of helping our community - we thank her!


Stamford's own "Bobby V" Valentine was awesome MC for an evening of cocktails, dinner, dancing, live & silent auctions and much more fun!


Sponsors:




































Thank you to our media partner:



 

Patricia C. Phillips: Woman of Distinction and 2016 Rays of Hope Award Recipient

Patricia Phillips puts her stamp on volunteerism wherever she goes.  A passionate advocate for the less fortunate, she has worked tirelessly for numerous nonprofit organizations in Stamford, Darien, and Norwalk over four decades.  Since her early beginnings as a member of the Junior League of Stamford-Norwalk, her public service commitment has strengthened the community in countless ways.  Pat co-founded Shelter for the Homeless (SFH), which remains, almost 35 years later, the only regional men’s shelter in lower Fairfield County serving Stamford, Darien, Greenwich, and New Canaan.  She headed up a capital campaign to raise funds to establish Pacific House.  Pat then served as volunteer director of development in the shelter’s first years and then as Board Chair from 1997 to 2003 and today serves on the advisory council. 

Pat has helped lead the fight to end veterans’ homelessness and chronic homelessness in the state of Connecticut.    Pacific House was established to provide a safe refuge for homeless men in lower Fairfield County.  Through the years SFH, which runs Pacific House, has expanded its mission to include developing and managing deeply affordable supportive housing units.  The organization currently provides such housing for 45 formerly homeless men (and this number is expected to increase to 94 by the end of 2018).  Today, eight SFH clients live comfortably in the Patricia C. Phillips house located here in Stamford. 

Pat created the Stamford Mayor’s Task Force on Domestic Violence in 1979 and worked with the Council of Churches and Synagogues in Stamford to provide training and develop a shelter and safe house for victims of domestic violence.  She also founded and served on the board of Domestic Violence Services, a program of the Darien/Norwalk YWCA that became the Domestic Violence Crisis Center in Norwalk in 1997.  Pat continues to assist victims of domestic violence in lower Fairfield County as both a volunteer and advisory council member.  She also joined the Person-to-Person advisory board in 2005 and later became a board member in 2006, and continues as a community advisor. 

Pat received the Liberty Bell Award from the regional Connecticut Bar Association in 1997. Then, in 1998 the Council of Churches and Synagogues, (now known as the Interfaith Council) recognized Pat with their Community Life Award. She then received the Advocate’s Community Leader Award in 2003, and in 2004 received the Outstanding Volunteer Fundraiser Award from the CT and Fairfield Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals.  Pat was recently recognized with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the United Way of Western Connecticut and the Volunteer Center. She also was named the Woman of Distinction by the Darien YWCA in 2014.  Her years of philanthropy and involvement in our community make honoring her tonight with the Rays of Hope Award a true pleasure for all of us here at SFH.