Honoring the founder of the St. Francis Emergency Food Bank

Today, the St. Francis Emergency Food Bank was re-named to be the Joan C. Dauber Emergency Food Bank and I was honored to be a part of the surprise presentation to Joan!

Joan is a dietician, who back in 1976 while working at Mt. Sinai Hospital, realized she could not prescribe particular diets to outpatients who did not have the wherewithal to purchase the healthy food needed.  So, she started a food pantry there in the outpatient clinic.

From these tiny roots, the program has grown into one of the largest food pantries in Hartford, serving over 1,000 families per month.

Joan has been partnering with Foodshare since the organization began in 1982 and is one of a small group of people who has been doing this work in greater Hartford even longer than I have.

Joan is now retired from her position as a hospital dietician, but continues to work tirelessly at the food bank.  This honor is so well deserved and I was pleased to be part of the group recognizing Joan today!