Donors Help Connecticut Food Bank
Provide Thanksgiving For All

Community, Businesses Rally to Raise Food, Funds and Hope

WALLINGFORD, CONN., December 9, 2015 – With the help of thousands of individual donors, community groups, faith-based organizations, businesses and media partners, the Connecticut Food Bank helped to provide more than a half million meals at Thanksgiving this year.

“We are grateful to the donors and volunteers who helped to make this possible,” said Connecticut Food Bank Interim CEO Paul O’Leary. “And just as important, we are grateful to many wonderful volunteers and staff of the programs we serve across Connecticut who transformed the turkeys, chickens, fresh produce and all the trimmings we distributed and into Thanksgiving baskets and holiday meals for the people who rely on their hunger relief programs at Thanksgiving and throughout the year.”

O’Leary said the Connecticut Food Bank provided more than 20,300 turkeys this year, along with more than 120,000 pounds of fresh produce, nearly 50,000 pounds of nonperishable foods and nearly 3,400 grocery store gift cards worth a total of more than $40,500.

“We hope that the generosity of donors and the variety of food provided helped to brighten the holiday for many in Connecticut who struggle to put food on the table,” O’Leary said.

O’Leary said the Connecticut Food Bank participated in nearly 25 Thanksgiving food drives sponsored by local media partners and businesses. “Beyond those drives, we were generously supported by businesses that hosted drives in stores and offices and delivered their donations directly to our distribution centers in Wallingford and Fairfield. And we can’t forget to mention the wonderful donations by people who collected food from neighbors, family and friends and brought those gifts to us to share.”

Among the media outlets, businesses and organizations that supported Thanksgiving For All this year at the Connecticut Food Bank:

• The Knights of Columbus, which made a $20,000 donation to support Connecticut Food Bank Thanksgiving For All
• Stop & Shop, which donated 1,000 turkeys
• Wakefern Food Corp. – ShopRite, which donated 560 turkeys
• United Way of Greater Waterbury, which donated 460 turkeys
• Subway, which donated 144 turkeys
• Reichle Farms, which donated 43,166 pounds of butternut squash
• Blue Hills Orchard, which donated 40,320 pounds of apples
• Lyman Orchards, which donated 33,600 pounds of apples
• Massaro Community Farm, which donated 552 pounds of assorted greens and fresh produce
• WTNH News8, with its Forecast to End Hunger Food Drive, in partnership with Bank of America, at the East Haven ShopRite, which raised enough food and funds to provide more than 9,100 meals.
• KC101, which hosted its 25^th annual Stuff a Bus two-day drive, which raised enough food and funds to provide nearly 22,000 meals.
• Yale Athletics, which hosted its 20^th annual Fill The Bowl drive at the Yale Bowl on the day of the Yale – Harvard game, which raised enough food and funds to provide more than 21,000 meals.
• Project Service LLC, which operates 23 Service Plazas along Connecticut highways, and hosted student volunteers from Hopkins School in New Haven to host fund drives at the northbound and southbound Interstate 95 Service Plazas in Milford and Darien, which raised enough funds to provide more than 30,000 meals.
• WPLR 99.1FM and Star 99.9FM, which hosted several drives at area Stop & Shop stores in Fairfield, Middlesex and New Haven counties. Each drive was partnered with a local Connecticut Food Bank member program. The drives raised enough food and funds to provide more than 29,200 meals.
• Radio 104.1FM, which hosted its first-ever Turkeypalooza food drive at Executive Nissan in North Haven, which raised enough food and funds to provide nearly 800 meals.
• Planet Fitness health clubs, which conducted food drives in 21 towns served by both the Connecticut Food Bank and Food Share and was partnered with several locally based feeding programs served by each of the food banks. The drives collected enough food to provide more than 5,500 meals.
• WATR 1320AM, which hosted its annual food drive at the Big Y World Class Market in Naugatuck, which raised enough food and funds to provide nearly 5,600 meals.
• The Waterbury Connecticut Teachers Federal Credit Union, which hosted a drive that raised enough food and funds to provide nearly 680 meals to a Connecticut Food Bank member program in Waterbury.
• NBC Connecticut, which hosted a food drive in Groton with the Connecticut Food Bank and our distribution partner, the Gemma E. Moran United Way/Labor Center Food Bank, which raised enough food and funds to provide nearly 1,200 meals.
• Stew Leonard’s and Country 92.5FM, which provided 20 turkeys to a Connecticut Food Bank partner program in Middletown.

O’Leary said the work of collecting, sorting, packing and distributing food was made possible by many volunteers. “From individuals to groups of employees from Citizens Bank and teams of U.S. Coast Guard members from the Sector Long Island Sound installation, people stepped up to help us get food where it needed to be. We are grateful for the generosity of so many who helped to make this truly a Thanksgiving For All.”

About the Connecticut Food Bank:

The Connecticut Food Bank is the state’s non-profit leader in the fight against hunger and the largest provider of charitable food donations. Some 700 partners and programs depend on the Connecticut Food Bank as a lifeline to nutritious food for the communities they serve. The Connecticut Food Bank partnered last year with retailers, donors, volunteers and growers to provide enough food to prepare more than 18 million meals to more than 300,000 people across 127 cities and towns in six Connecticut counties. Visit us on the web at www.ctfoodbank.org, like us Facebook and follow @CTFoodBank on Twitter or @CTFoodBank on Instagram.

###