The Community Chest of New Britain and Berlin has approved $89,400 in grants to six local organizations.
• Foodshare received $20,000 to support the New Britain Food Distribution and Mobile Foodshare programs to enhance access to fresh foods for New Britain’s poor and elderly residents.
• The Friendship Service Center received $15,000 to support the Community Kitchen’s efforts to feed an increasing number of homeless men, women and children at risk of homelessness.
• Klingberg Family Centers received $10,000 to support its extended day treatment services for boys and girls ages 5-12 living in New Britain who have moderate to severe behavioral health issues that put them at risk of being removed from the home and placed in a psychiatric hospital, treatment facility or therapeutic foster care.
• The Mayor’s Workplan to End Homelessness, a collaboration of municipal, business, civic and philanthropic leaders working end chronic homelessness in New Britain, received $15,000 through the YWCA of New Britain. “CCNBB fully funds the Fresh Start Project and the Bus Pass Project with $5,000 each,” said Mary E. Smith-Floyd, the Plan’s housing and employment liaison.
• The New Britain Academy for Health Professions, which offers a comprehensive curriculum for high school students interested in exploring careers in healthcare, received $20,000 to support its operations.
• The United Way of Central and Northeastern Connecticut received $9,400 to support the Smalley Summer Academy’s second year initiative, which works with New Britain’s 4th and 5th graders throughout the summer to reduce summer learning loss and help close the achievement gap.
Known originally as the Community Chest in the 1930s and 1940s and most recently as the United Way of New Britain and Berlin, the Community Chest of New Britain and Berlin (CCNBB) is now a supporting organization of the Community Foundation of Greater New Britain.
Food giveaways
Two separate programs have delivered food to the area’s needy.
Feed The Children and PepsiCo recently joined forces with team members from Price Rite and Community Renewal Team to distribute the contents of two tractor-trailers filled with food, essentials and personal care items — enough to help 800 Hartford families.
More than 100 volunteers distributed 25-pound boxes of food and PepsiCo products to families who present a voucher onsite. Families also received a box of personal care items and products from Price Rite.
Nearly 1 in 7 children living in Hartford (12.8% percent) is at risk of hunger.
The distribution was the latest stop on Feed The Children’s Americans Feeding Americans Caravan. Including this event, the caravan has helped more than 395,000 families across the country since 2009 in cities that have been affected by the nation’s economic downturn.
Meanwhile, the Windsor Community Service Council has received a donation of more than 300 pounds of food from FEMA to help the Windsor Food Bank supply those in need.
As FEMA continues to complete its disaster relief efforts from Tropical Storm Irene and Severe Storm Alfred, the sStaff of the Windsor Joint Field Office chose the Windsor Community Service Council/Windsor Food Bank as its partner in local community. The food was donated by employees as part of the Feds Feed Families food drive.
Last year the Department of Homeland Security generously donated more than 435,000 pounds of non-perishable food to children who are not able to benefit from school breakfast and lunch programs. This year the challenge is to donate at least 500,000 pounds to food banks throughout the country.
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Child’s wish granted
Investment advisor firm Johnson Brunetti of Wethersfield partnered with the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Connecticut to grant the wish of a four-year-old Wethersfield boy named Ethan to go to Walt Disney World.
As part of the all-expenses-paid trip to the “The Most Magical Place on Earth,” Ethan and his family got the chance to meet dozens of Disney characters. Above all else, the trip gave Ethan and his family time to relax and enjoy one another’s company, creating memories that will last them a lifetime.
“To see the expression on Ethan’s face when he talked about his trip to Disney was priceless,” said Joel Johnson, principal of Johnson Brunetti.
Ethan’s family was invited to attend a company picnic and celebration with Johnson Brunetti upon their return from Walt Disney World, where Ethan shared just how exciting his experience was with the very people who helped make his wish come true.
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School supplies
It’s nearing back to school time and local businesses are gearing up to make sure the students are ready.
Over the past 15 years, Price Chopper Supermarket’s signature Tools for Schools program has delivered more than $10.5 million in school supplies, musical instruments, microscopes, computer software for school communities across the chain’s six-state Northeastern footprint.
DoSomething.org and Staples are teaming up with teen actress and recording artist Bella Thorne for the 5th annual Staples for Students National School Supply Drive. The drive encourages Connecticut’s young people to collect school supplies and drop them off at their nearest Staples store through Sept. 15 to benefit youths at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Hartford. To kick-start the national campaign, Staples will donate $125,000 worth of school supplies.
And Citizens Bank has launched its Gear for Grades initiative. Customers and the public are invited to donate new items such as pencils, folders, glue, notebooks and other school supplies at any Citizens Bank branch in Connecticut through August 10. This year’s Gear for Grades program is in partnership with the Connecticut Association of Foster and Adoptive Parents and the Urban League of Greater Hartford.
