In this picture, volunteers are delivering and processing perishable food donations the Cupboard had received that day from area grocery stores. Because of these dedicated volunteers, in addition to nonperishable food items, we are able to
provide our families with a bag of frozen meat, a bag of bread and pastry, and a bag of fresh fruit and vegetables. We also receive a variety of other refrigerated items such as yogurt, cheese, milk, eggs, juice, etc.
We are able to provide this food thanks to the regular donations of those items from
seven area grocery stores: Alidi’s, Big Y Ellington, Big Y Tolland, ShopRite of Tri-City Plaza, Stop and Shop Rockville, Stop and Shop Vernon, and Walmart Manchester. In September alone we received 27,359 pounds of food from these stores and so far in 2023 the total is 241,750 pounds of food.
But to make these donations available to our families requires a large number of
volunteers to pick up the donations and process them. Alan Sauer and his team pick up
the donations at the stores on Mondays and Fridays. Brenda Sauer and her team then
process the donations, making the bags for distribution and storing the refrigerator and
freezer items. Beth Jensen and her volunteers tackle these same jobs on Saturdays
when we receive a donation from Walmart.
Overall, it takes a team of over 35 volunteers to make this food available for our
families. These volunteers selflessly put in literally hundreds of hours each week to
assure we can provide a wide variety of food assistance to the families we serve.
Lee Hay
Food Cupboard Director