There’s a stereotype about Connecticut, one that pops up frequently in pop culture. You’ve probably heard it.

The state is one big, gilded suburb. It’s all prep schools and trust funds. Garden parties and country clubs. Boat shoes and pastel shorts.

If there’s truth to that image, though, you probably shouldn’t tell Barbara Dublin. Dublin has spent 30 years as executive director of Greater Waterbury Interfaith Ministries, a soup kitchen and food pantry serving some of Connecticut’s neediest residents. And she says she’s rarely seen things as bad as they are today.

"The need right now is profound," Dublin says on a frigid late January day, bundled in a thick coat as she distributes groceries from a folding table. "We are serving so many more needy families, children. There's not enough food."

Two Connecticuts: How gaps between rich and poor define life in CT, Alex Putterman, CT Insider, May 20, 2025, available here