Chris Malis

A child of the '60s, I came of age at the University of Connecticut between '67 and '71. At the age of 14, and totally by chance while visiting my cousin Pete in DC during August, I saw Bob Dylan singing "Blowing in the Wind" and, more importantly, MLK give his "I have a dream" speech in '63. Taking my queue from Dylan, John Lennon and others, I began questioning what I saw around me and far away. My activism blossomed at UConn, where I was active in the Peace/Anti-Vietnam War movement, burgeoning No Nukes/Environmental movement - for a time participating in the "Back to the Land" movement, studying Eastern philosophies, and reading books by Carlos Casteneda, Hermann Hesse, Ram Das, Che Guevera, Abbie Hoffman, Dee Brown, etc. I did independent studies on topics such as the plight of Native Americans today, and spending a month in Boston exploring alternative methods of education such as Montessori schools first hand. It was at UConn that I got my first glimpse a poverty, volunteering to work with minorities in Hartford for a week each semester.

After graduating with an English degree (minoring in Philosophy), I drove across the country - living in San Francisco for a while - and throughout the Canadian Maritimes, buying land on Cape Breton in Nova Scotia, where I spent most summers in the '70s and early '80s. During the '70s I held a variety of jobs - everything from a welder at Electric Boat in Groton, CT (where I was the newsletter editor for a short-lived alternative Union) to an apple picker, cab driver in Norwich, "custodial engineer," wholesale and retail salesman of records [remember those 12" black vinyl things?!], and correspondent for a local newspaper. I also spent a little over a year at the Mansfield "Training School," where I was responsible for 8 severely mentally retarded persons and won 2nd place Employee of the Year. This was shortly before the state closed the two large "schools" and left most of these persons fend for themselves on the streets, adding significantly to the homeless population.

In 1979 I began a 6-course progam at UConn in cartography; the only jobs were with the Defense Mapping Agency, which didn't pay much and I did not want to do anyway. I also met my wife in this program. She worked for the state in the Dept. of Environmental Protection (taking early retirement in 2007 after 33 years); through her and her friends I discovered computers. I completed a 1-year certificate program in computer programing at Manchester Community College; most of the teachers were employees of Aetna, and they thought I'd be good there. So an internship became the beginning of almost 22 years in various IT departments at Aetna. I took early retirement in 2003, barely escaping with my sanity; As Jackson Browne sings in one of his earlier songs, "It's so far the other way my life has gone."

In 1990 -1991, I was involved with two groups – a board member of one – formed to fight the siting of a nuclear waste dump in North Central Ct. The three sites chosen were on some of the best farm land in the state, and within a few hundred yards of six different grade schools. We not only won our battle, but convinced the state that no site in the state was suitable for this purpose due to the geology of water tables in this small state.

In 1994, while still working at Aetna, I began volunteering at the Cornerstone Soup Kitchen in Rockville. All of the Cornerstone Foundation’s outreach programs at the time were run by unpaid volunteer staff, as the funding for the Foundation’s programs has always come solely from donations, and not from any government sources. I quickly became the “food coordinator” for the Soup Kitchen, working directly with Foodshare in Windsor and coordinating federal food programs for the soup kitchen. After retiring from Aetna, I passed the “professional food handler’s” test and began cooking meals at the kitchen as well. During this 10-year period I also helped set up the Cornerstone Clothing Bank program. I also helped poor and homeless persons who frequented the soup kitchen and clothing bank when and where I could.

In late 2004, while I was seeking paid employment, the Foundation decided to open a homeless shelter as another of their outreach programs. Once again, they were seeking unpaid volunteer staff to run the shelter, and having trouble getting volunteers. I was asked to become its Director as the first paid staff member of the Foundation. During January 2005 I researched over a dozen other homeless shelters and began recruiting volunteers to staff the shelter. We opened February 1, 2005. That month I worked more than 420 hours, virtually living at the shelter, while creating written staff and guest procedures and continuing my recruitment of additional volunteer staff during the day, and staffing the evening and overnight shifts as needed. That August the Foundation agreed to pay for 2 persons to fill the overnight shift; I found two persons to fill the position.

In April 2008, feeling that I could no longer do what I wanted to do for the guests at our shelter due to fatigue and burnout, I retired from the Cornerstone after 14 years of service. My wife and I visited family in Ohio and Pittsburgh, and I spent the latter half of the summer assisting my wife, who was recuperating from foot surgery. As our monthly pension income does not meet our expenses due to our mortgage not yet being paid off, I began seeking paid employment once again. Of course, the climate of lies, greed, and power grabs finally caught up to us, and the first thing to be cut was funding for social services and education, the very things needed most in this economy. I have been looking for a social service position, preferably dealing with homelessness, since September 2008.

At present I live with my wife and one cat in Vernon, CT. At our peak, we had two dogs, three cats, and a fish tank full of fish. We will rescue one or two more dogs when I get a job.

To be continued …