Seniors Fed Thanks to Middle Schoolers

Look who we found in our warehouse...a group of lively youngsters from St. Timothy Middle School! Thanks to all of  their hard work and energy, over 400 boxes of food were recently distributed, through the CSFP program, to seniors living in Greater Hartford.

Thank you St. Timothy for engaging your students in this effort to make our community stronger and healthier!

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Young Folks Help Feed Over 500 Hungry Seniors

Earlier this week, our warehouse was filled with an energetic group of local young people from The  Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

As part of their belief in providing frequent service, the youth  from the Canton Ward, assisted with successfully building over 500 CSFP boxes for local seniors.

The young folks ended their day of service with a tour of the warehouse given by one of their very own church members, Paula Siebers, who also happens to be a Foodshare staffer.

Thank you youth of the Canton Ward for supporting our hungry neighbors!

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MFN Shares Words of Gratitude

Recently, our Food Sourcing Coordinator Lauren visited MFN at Zion Lutheran Church in Bristol and received a wonderful poster signed by dozens of clients thanking us for the turkeys they received through Foodshare's Turkey and Thirty campaign. Cheryl Yetke, MFN's director, has made this gesture of gratitude an annual tradition. 

MFN opened its doors in 1982 and has since served over 875,000 meals and this year alone, the Emergency Food Pantry provided food to 1,507 families. MFN is also one of Foodshare's CSFP sites, serving up to 25 seniors after its establishment in July. They even add fresh produce from local farmers to the boxes they receive for added nutrition. 

Cheryl Yetke, Director, with donated toys

During the holidays, Paul Eckstrom and his dedicated volunteers host community dinners; 300 meals were delivered to neighbors who cannot leave their homes, and they served 170 more people in their kitchen. For Thanksgiving, MFN distributed over 300 turkey baskets from Foodshare and Gabe's Basket Brigade. MFN's clothing porch is full thanks to local volunteers and Best Cleaners' donation of 1,200 gently used winter coats. A toy drive brought in hundreds of toys for children from United Way, retired firefighters and police officers, local pubs, and the Veterans Council. 

One volunteer, Laurie, mentioned a moment that stood out to her over the years...a man came in for a winter coat and was teary-eyed as she held up a donated LL Bean vest. The expression on his face is “branded” in her mind and made her even more dedicated to eradicating hunger in Bristol. 

Thank you MFN for your successful efforts in providing for our neighbors! Foodshare is fortunate to have you as a partner. 

Pratt & Whitney Succeeds With CSFP Boxes

Recently, a group of motivated employees from Pratt & Whitney spent their Tuesday night building CSFP boxes for our local seniors. As regulars to our warehouse, they understand how much we rely on volunteer support to get food to those most in need. When several members were unable to make it that evening, the remaining volunteers took it as a challenge, successfully filling 315 CSFP boxes in just under 2 hours!

The Commodity Supplemental Food Program is a service-based program that works to improve the health of low-income elderly persons at least 60 years of age by supplementing their diets with nutritious USDA Foods.

Thank you Pratt & Whitney for for all of your hardwork!

Pratt & Whitney Builds Food Boxes for Seniors

A group of 14 Pratt & Whitney employees donated time on November 15 packing 377 Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP) boxes in less than 2 hours! They plan to make CFSP boxing a monthly event.  "CSFP is a program aimed at improving the overall health of low-income elderly persons at least 60 years of age by supplementing their diets with nutritious food options.”

Do you have a group that would like to volunteer with Foodshare? 

Visit site.foodshare.org/volunteer to check out all of our available opportunities!

Volunteers Deliver Food to Homebound Seniors

Seniors in West Hartford, who have limited income, have another source of healthy food – the Commodity Supplemental Food Program. Saint James Episcopal Church has partnered with the West Hartford Division of Human Services to distribute a box of healthy food staples each month. Saint James has recruited volunteers to actually deliver the box of food to those eligible seniors that are house bound. Eligible seniors that are not house bound are asked to pick up their box at Saint James.

Interested seniors must apply in advance with the Division of Human Services at 860-561-7561.

A unique way of offering help

It's heartbreaking these days to come to an intersection and find someone holding a cardboard sign asking for food or money.

Yesterday, Max Rudolph from Hockanum Valley Community Council - a major provider of food assistance in the Tri-Town area of Vernon, Tolland, and Ellington, turned this idea on its head.

Wearing a hexagonal sandwich board, he stood by the side of the road to OFFER help!

HVCC is the most recent organization to partner with Foodshare around the Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP), a federal program through the USDA that provides low-income Seniors with a monthly box of nutritious food.

Foodshare is currently working with six organizations in Hartford and Tolland counties, with the goal of serving 800 seniors per month through CSFP by the end of this year.

#SolvingSeniorHunger

The Commodities Supplemental Food Program provides monthly food boxes to low income seniors. CSFP represents federal funding the State of CT is receiving for the first time this year joining over 40 other states from around the country many of whom have run CSFP for a number of years. Foodshare is initially allocated 800 boxes/month (CT Food Bank’s allocation is 1,600/month) but this allocation could grow in
the third year and beyond if we hit participation targets and sufficient support/funding exists at the federal level.

Sites currently signed up to be local distributors of these boxes are in Bloomfield, East Hartford, Enfield and Rocky Hill. We’re also in discussion with possible additional sites in the Farmington Valley, Vernon and West Hartford. Any person age 60 or over who resides in CT and has household income of 130% of the Federal Poverty Level or below is eligible to receive a monthly food box. Boxes consist of a range of these products and weigh approximately 26 pounds with an estimated value of around $50. We and our local partners are excited to have CSFP to help address the many seniors who may be eligible for SNAP but not receiving it and senior malnutrition, generally.