Food for the Body, Food for the Mind

Yesterday, I was priveleged to join with Foodshare's friends at C & S Wholesale Grocers for a very special event at Pleasant Valley School in South Windsor. 

C & S has facilities in Windsor Locks and Suffield and employs more than 800 people here in Connecticut.  The company and its employees are great supporters of Foodshare, donating food, making corporate financial contributions, and engaging employees in volunteer work and the Walk Against Hunger.  But, as important as C & S thinks food banks are to our communities, they also recognize that there are other important issues for us to address.  In particular, C & S has a commitment to improving literacy and has partnered with First Book, a national organization that provides books to children across the country.

Yesterday, we celebrated First Book's contribution of over 4,000 books to students in greater Hartford and a $500 grant made to Pleasant Valley School with a reading event at the school.  C & S employees, local officials, and representatives of other charities supported by C & S gathered to present books to and read with the second graders at the school.

I was thrilled to read with Owen and Phuc, both of who demonstrated their own reading proficiency by helping me read Dr. Seuss' "The Lorax" aloud.  Believe it or not, I had never read "The Lorax," nor had I seen the recent movie adaptation.

So, I was expecially touched to read, "Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing's going to get better. It's not."  How applicable to many things in life, including our work here at Foodshare!

Thank you to our friends at C & S Wholesale Grocers for all of your amazing work to build a stronger community with your "Food for the Body, Food for the Mind" initiative.  It was an honor to stand among you yesterday.