NIGHTLIGHT MEMBERS
Shahan Islam
NIGHTLIGHT Founder
Shahan Islam has been interested in homelessness advocacy for many years and has led church groups on "Midnight Runs" coordinated by the Midnight Run Group of NYC over many years. He is particularly interested in marshalling the forces of community organizations and institutions to try to provide compassionate, street-level relief to the homeless. He founded NIGHTLIGHT group to facilitate this.
April Barron
Founder & Compassion in Action Leader
April Alston-Barron has overcome life challenges and devotes herself to assisting others as they go through hardships. She is the founder and executive director since 2010 of Helping Hands Outreach a non-profit organization to help those in need. Every Sunday April and volunteers can be found feeding the needy under the John Street Bridge. When the school year begins, she hand delivers school supplies to children in several Bridgeport neighborhoods and local schools. During the Christmas season she donates and distributed toys to children in the community. Through her many years of giving back and seeing the need of many families, Helping Hands Outreach has grown substantially. April continues to lead the charge of helping the less fortunate in the Greater Bridgeport area.
Jeffrey P Hodnicki
Licensed Social Worker
Jeff Hodnicki is a licensed social worker in the state of Connecticut where he worked for over thirty years at the associate level as a state social worker in the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services in Bridgeport and Stamford. He also undertakes volunteer work for NAMI and Stamford Hospital emergency room and is active in various clubs.
Zulfatan Faizin
Justice-Focused Seminarian
Zulfatan Faizin is a seminary student at the Hartford International University. Hailing from Indonesia, he was a television journalist for 13 years, having reported on issues impacting people experiencing homelessness and gaining first hand insight into the systemic challenges they face. He is also a lecturer in communication and deeply committed to social justice, with a strong passion for advocacy and community-centered solutions.
John Bengston
Community Nourisher & Youth Mentor
John Bengston a social justice warrior, who for every month over two decades, has made and marshalled young people to make huge amounts of soup for soup kitchens in Hartford, Connecticut.