Lifelong Branford resident Brenda Eldridge has volunteered for years at the Community Dining Room, helping to serve the 7,000 meals a year. She also serves the Branford Compassion Club, caring for all the cats and kittens at the shelter and even fostering some in her own home. Not only does she provide direct care for as many as 90 cats, she also spends a considerable amount of her time fundraising for the organization. She shops, totes, cooks, and cleans up from the lavish pasta dinners and breakfasts that she puts on with little help. These events raise substantial sums of money for the organization to carry on its mission. She and her husband also rescue older golden retrievers and provide them with safe, happy, loving homes until the end of their lives. Brenda has been on church missions to Staten Island and the Appalachian region to provide meals for volunteers
working to repair storm damaged homes.