Enfield’s “Summer Lunch Bunch” concluded yesterday with a back-to-school backpack distribution for the children who took part in the program. The program distributed 561 backpacks with supplies to the children and their parents. Additionally,180 pairs of jeans (donated by Plato's Closet) were available. Also, representatives from Connecticut Dental Health Partnership, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Cub Scouts, Enfield Food Shelf, ERfC, Enfield Social Services, the Family Resource Center, CHR's "Strengthening Families," and The Network shared information about assistance. What a great day to wrap up the summer program!
The backpack distribution concluded an extraordinary summer for this primarily community and volunteer run program. During the 9-week project, they served 2600+ lunches with 400+ of this total to parents, with a total of 121 families taking part. The Lunch Bunch also presented many exciting and educational activities including “Allen’s Angels” comfort dogs, Nutmeg FCU mobile banking unit tours, interactive martial arts, a “Qi Jong” class, a sing-along, Racing Car Madness, 2 garden plots, and varied games and crafts. Also, information providers were available to share details about helpful services, and free clothing and books were made available to the families. On the final day, we received many thank you notes and expressions of appreciation from the kids and their parents.
Hundreds of volunteers and donors contributed to the project in some way. The project is a collaboration of St. Patrick’s Church, Community Renewal Team, ERfC, Enfield Food Shelf, Enfield Social Services, End Hunger Connecticut!, Foodshare, St. Patrick's parish, United Way of Central and Northeastern Connecticut, and United Way of North Central Connecticut. This collaborative effort, met the objectives of providing both healthy meals and positive summer activities and made a difference in the lives of hundreds of families.
If it truly “takes a village to raise a child,” then Enfield has it covered!
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