Connecticut Food Bank Hunger News & Advocacy Blog

We recently met Barbara, who is well into her 80s and relies on our Mobile Food Pantry distribution each month in Southbury. She’s never needed food-assistance until her retirement savings ran out.  She lives alone and is collecting Social Security, and finding it increasingly difficult to keep up with her expenses. “I’m not too proud to come here for food because I’m running behind on things,” she told us during her second month in a row visiting the Mobile Pantry.  “After I pay for utilities, medicine and my other monthly expenses, there’s not much left for food.”  While people like Barbara are facing the everyday challenge of paying for housing, utilities, healthcare or food, many food banks across the country are facing a challenge of their own. The supply of donated nonperishable food is shrinking.  The items being made available to soup kitchens and food pantries are changing to more...
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  Connecticut Food Bank has three immediate volunteer opportunities.  If you are interested, please contact our Volunteer Coordinator Kim Damien at 203-469-5000, ext. 311. Procurement Department Administrative Assistant:  A volunteer is needed with all-around office skills to assist with filing documents, doing mailings, phone work, copying, postage and data entry. This is an ongoing weekly need at our East Haven location for a 2-3 hour time block and can be arranged for any week day except Tuesdays. Internet Research Supporter: The Operations Department needs a volunteer to search for label ingredient information on the Internet and transfer the data to an Excel spread sheet. The volunteer needs to have a solid grasp of the Internet and basic Excel and typing skills, and must be available Monday and Friday mornings in February from 9 a.m. to noon. If the project is not finished by the end of February it may carry over into March. Programs Department...
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Thanks to the overwhelming support of our social media community, Connecticut Food Bank has earned a 350,000 meal* donation from Kraft Foods in the nationwide Huddle to Fight Hunger Challenge.  Kraft Foods challenged Feeding America food banks to join the huddle by “LIKING” the Kraft Fight Hunger page on Facebook (www.Facebook.com/KraftFightHunger). For every “Like,” Kraft Foods donated one meal to Feeding America.  Once there, additional meals were generated for local communities by simply entering a zip code and playing a 2-Minute Trivia Drill game.  Connecticut Food Bank participated in the 2011 Huddle to Fight Hunger campaign to raise awareness for the problem of hunger, while at the same time, encouraging people to help reach the goal of 25 million meals donated to Feeding America.  The organization rallied big support and the most local “LIKES” to earn its extra 350,000 meal donation from Kraft Foods. “We appreciate the support of our social media community for helping us...
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Are you looking for a way to give back to your community on an ongoing basis?  Connecticut Food Bank is looking for volunteers to help with a very important nutritional program that helps improve the lives of people who struggle to put food on the table.  Read the description below, and if interested, we encourage you to contact our Volunteer Coordinator Kim Damien, kdamien@ctfoodbank.org  or 203-469-5000. What/Where:  Volunteers are needed to assist with the Mobile Food Pantry distribution at the Brennan- Rogers School in New Haven on the third Thursday of each month through the remainder of the school year. When: 5:15 – 6:45 p.m. Why: This program distributes fresh produce, whole grain and dairy items to families whose children attend the school. Requirements: Volunteers must enjoy helping people, have the ability to lift 25 pounds, and ability to withstand varying weather conditions (this is an outdoor event). This opportunity is...
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Thank you doesn’t seem enough to express the appreciation felt by Connecticut Food Bank for the great outpouring of support from thousands of individuals, families, civic groups, schools, religious organizations and companies that helped make our “Thanksgiving for All” campaign a success. The people of Connecticut have always been generous—and they proved that again this year. In the aftermath of Hurricane Irene and October’s snow storm, people were generous. Because of that early generosity, we were concerned that donations during the Thanksgiving season would drop. But we put out the call for the need for food and the community responded overwhelmingly. Together, we collected 25,052 turkeys and more than 392,000 pounds of trimmings. With everyone’s help, we were able to provide nearly 600,000 meals for people in need of food assistance this holiday season. As we count our blessings for the outpouring of community support, we have to remember Thanksgiving...
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Our “Thanksgiving for All” campaign is under way with special events, food drives and fundraisers to help individuals and families in need of food assistance during the holiday season and the cold winter months that follow. The turkeys and “trimmings” collected will be distributed by Connecticut Food Bank to food-assistance programs in the days before Thanksgiving. The funds will be used to buy more holiday food and for the distribution of the donated food throughout Connecticut. Last weekend’s Stuff-a-Bus food drive sponsored by Unilever at the Silver Sands Stop & Shop in Milford yielded 1,600 pounds of food. Last year, we distributed enough turkeys and trimmings to provide an estimated 790,000 meals for people in need during the holiday season. This year, every food and fund drive is critical, not only to collect food and funds, but to increase awareness about the ongoing problem of hunger and poverty that many...
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Program provides healthy weekend meals for students at risk of hunger Connecticut Food Bank is the recipient of a multi-year gift from Fairfield County Community Foundation that will double the number of children in Bridgeport who participate in its vitally important Kids’ BackPack Program. Through the Foundation’s initial gift of $124,000, more than 900 Bridgeport school children will receive nutritious food during weekends when other resources, including free/reduced price school meals, are not available to them. “Well-nourished children tend to have fewer illnesses and better school achievement than those who are chronically hungry,” said Nancy L. Carrington, president and CEO of Connecticut Food Bank. “We are extremely grateful to the Fairfield County Community Foundation’s long-term support of the Kids’ BackPack Program in Bridgeport. It is such an important component of child nutrition for those who participate.” “The Foundation and our donors support many programs to address the achievement gap in...
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We want to share this announcement we received from Congressman Joe Courtney’s office earlier this week. Congressman and Mrs. Courtney each to live on $32.59 food budget for a week to highlight possible cuts to low-income program Congressman Courtney and his wife Audrey today began the week-long SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) Challenge, a program of the New London County Food Policy Council, to highlight the challenges facing families that receive SNAP benefits in eastern Connecticut. “Each day, tens of thousands of families across the Second Congressional District are forced to live on an individual food budget of about $4. As Congress debates legislation that would cut this invaluable program, I believe it is important for members of Congress like me to understand firsthand the challenges my constituents face,” said Congressman Courtney. “In New London County there are 27,000 people receiving SNAP benefits. Participants of this challenge will come away...
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Connecticut Food Bank recently honored our Hunger Action Heroes at an awards ceremony attended by more than 100 at our East Haven warehouse. The heroes are individuals, businesses and organizations that go above and beyond to support Connecticut Food Bank in its mission to alleviate hunger in Connecticut. The ceremony is held annually in September, designated as Hunger Action Month. “You are our heroes in many ways, but more importantly you are our inspiration, making a difference in the lives of the men, women and children who depend on us for food,” Connecticut Food Bank President & CEO Nancy L. Carrington told the honorees. “We thank you for your extraordinary service on behalf of our mission to alleviate hunger in Connecticut.” Congresswoman Rosa L. DeLauro was presented with The Bill Liddell Award – the highest tribute paid by Connecticut Food Bank to an individual, organization or corporation in recognition of...
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Editor’s Note: Deb Heinrich, Gov. Dannel Malloy’s liaison to the state’s nonprofit community, agreed to take the SNAP/Food Stamp Challenge this month and live on $4 a day for food for a week. My family has decided to feed one more person at our table each day … Since we have four people in our family, we will feed an extra person by pledging one-quarter of our monthly food budget to our local food pantry. I’ve reached the seventh and final day of my SNAP Challenge. It has been an incredible experience and I am very glad that I tried it. I started the Challenge with two goals in mind. First, I wanted to experience first-hand what it would be like to live on a budget of $4 per day for food for one week. A good friend of mine often quotes “Idealism is proportional to one’s distance from a...
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