As a member of the board of the New London Homeless Hospitality Center, I wanted to take a moment to recognize the Garde Arts Center for its recent act of hospitality for our guests.

In the wake of Sandy and the power outage at our daytime center and the resulting confusion and boredom that set in, I was surprised and touched that the Garde office generously offered a number of tickets free of charge to a production of "Carmen."

It was one of those random acts of kindness whose rewards are hard to measure but deeply felt. Our deepest gratitude goes out to the Garde for being literally and figuratively a beacon to all the members of our community - even those who are so often ignored.