Lyric Hall Freshman Day of Service

Freshman Day of Service:

Lyric Hall

As fresh faces arrive in New Haven to begin their undergraduate academic careers at Yale University, Dwight Hall helps to facilitate the meeting of students through a volunteer day, known as Freshman Day of Service. Besides meeting other students, the additional benefit of participating in this service day is the opportunity to learn about a cool place in New Haven, beyond the downtown area. 

Neighborhood Housing Services of New Haven was one of six organizations to host a group of students. From 10:00am-2:00pm, this past Saturday, September 6, a group of 18 Yale students joined CB&O staff and John Cavaliere at his business in Westville. Lyric Hall, a duo-business with its theater and antique restoration shop, is a historic gem in the community. John has devoted many years, along with a lot of strength and determination, to renovate this building into a beautiful space. 

To help keep it that way, John has been contributing a heavy amount of manual labor to build up and re-grade the ground surrounding the building so that it can be better resilient to heavy rainwater. Having 36 extra hands available this past Saturday was a huge help in building a rubble, gravel, and earth berm; leveling the surroundings; and preparing the basement floor for painting. 

John is looking forward to worrying less about water entering the basement. With a fresh coat of paint, the water-insulated basement space will now be re-utilized as a workshop, which will free up prime space upstairs that will be better served as a show floor and gathering place. Great work, everyone!