Foundation Will Match Funding Up to $15,000 Through December 31
DANBURY, Conn. (12.15.2020) — A fundraiser to benefit Danbury-area food pantries will now match contributions dollar for dollar through December 31, 2020, thanks to a generous donation from The 3 B’s Foundation. All the funds raised through the Feeding Our Neighbors Challenge will benefit Danbury-area food pantries, which have been overwhelmed by increased demand in the wake of the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We’re still seeing a great need for food, especially as the holidays put more demands on family budgets” said Isabel Almeida, President of United Way of Western Connecticut. “In Danbury, kids have been home from school for months. That puts greater stress on family food budgets and increases child care costs. We’re grateful to The 3 B’s Foundation for their generous support of our community. With their generous match, we’re hoping to get more resources to our local pantries and feed more families.”
The Feeding Our Neighbors Challenge was launched on October 13, 2020 as a joint effort by Union Savings Bank, Savings Bank of Danbury, and Newtown Savings Bank, with an initial combined donation of $45,000. The effort gained publicity and support from then Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton, when he and his Public Relations Coordinator, Taylor O’Brien, started a fundraising competition that culminated in the Mayor running down West Street in a chicken suit, while Ms. O’Brien raced him in a unicorn costume.
All funds raised through the Feeding Our Neighbors Challenge will benefit 15 food pantries that are members of the Danbury Food Collaborative. United Way of Western Connecticut provides backbone support to this collaborative and is handling administration and distribution of the funds to the member pantries.
To get a sense of how great the need for food is, you can visit ct211counts.org. It shows that there were 23,900 requests for information about food resources in Fairfield County in May of 2020, compared to 1,607 in May of 2019. In the month of July alone, the nonprofit organizations that are members of the Danbury Food Collaborative had 7,000 visits to their pantries. Some are serving three times as many households as they were before the pandemic.
Local food pantries that will benefit from donations to the “Feeding Our Neighbors Community Challenge” are:
Association of Religious Communities (ARC) • Bethel Food Pantry • Brookfield Social Services • Camella's Cupboard • Catholic Charities - Morning Glory Breakfast Program • Community Action Agency of Western CT • Daily Bread Food Pantry • Hillside Food Outreach • Interfaith AIDS Ministry • Jericho Partnership • The Salvation Army • Victory Christian Center • Purple Heart Ministries • Walnut Hill Community Food Pantry
For more information about Feeding Our Neighbors Challenge and to make a donation, go to https://app.mobilecause.com/vf/FEEDNEIGHBORS Or contact Isabel Almeida, President and Chief Operating Officer at United Way of Western Connecticut at Isabel.almeida@uwwesternct.org, 203-297-6725.