The owner of Granby Village Health, Inc., a health food store in Granby Center, has made it her mission to reduce food waste and feed the needy in her community. Lori Love, who launched the Waste Not Want Not Community Kitchen, located at South Congregational Church, 242 Salmon Brook St., in early 2009, is serving dinner to about 100 people every Wednesday, solely through food overstocks and donations.
“I’ve been driven with a desire to feed people, but I didn’t know how it was going to evolve,” Love said. “When the holidays came around (in 2008), I sort of subconsciously/intentionally over-ordered by about a dozen turkeys.”
When a friend stopped by her store with a large rice donation, Love said, she came up with the idea for the Waste Not Want Community Kitchen. She met with administrators at South Congregational Church, who enthusiastically agreed to allow her to use their Fellowship Hall every Wednesday to serve the meal.
“That first week, we fed six people,” Love said. “Now, we’re feeding between 90 and 110 people every week.”
Love has relied on donations of unwanted food from local organizations and excess produce from local farmers.
“What we serve every week is based on what we receive the week before, and we round it out with the money we get from donations,” she said.
Love said she posts a note at her store indicating her need for certain items, and as word spreads about the Community Kitchen, more donations are coming in.
The weekly meal, which is served from 4:30 to 6:30 each Wednesday, sees a wide range of local residents.
“There are those who are really, really in need,” she said. “There are a lot of single seniors looking for company, and there are others who really like what we’re doing. They want to support the cause, and they throw a few bucks in the can.”
About 15 to 20 volunteers are needed each week to prepare and serve the meal. Love said the people that help do it thanklessly.
“We have people who work 40 hours a week, but they show up and they scrub pots and they go home,” she said. “They want to help somehow, and they’re happy to find something right in their own town.”
The Community Kitchen has recently branched out to include a “grocery store” set up in the back of the hall, where donated household goods are free for the taking.
“It’s building community,” Love said. “As long as there are people who are hungry, I still plan on cooking for them.”
For information on donating or volunteering, contact Love at Granby Village Health, 10 Hartford Ave., Granby.
Ad Club Readies Benefit
The Advertising Club of Connecticut is preparing for its 11th annual Charity Auction, which raises money for the Connecticut Children’s Medical Center and the Rob Branham Scholarship Fund.
This year’s event is scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 21, at the City Steam Brewery Café in Hartford, from 5:30 to 10 p.m. The evening will feature cocktails, hors d’oeuvres and an auction. Event chair Sandra L. Brangiero is accepting donations. Reach her at admin@adclubct.org.
Over the past 10 years, the Ad Club of Connecticut has raised more than $60,000 for Connecticut Children’s Medical Center and provided more than $20,000 in scholarships for students in need through the Rob Branham Scholarship Fund.
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City Arts Grants Open
Hartford-based artists, arts organizations and community groups have until Oct. 1 to apply for $370,000 in funding through the 2011 Hartford Arts & Heritage Jobs Grant program, funded by the City of Hartford and administered by the Greater Hartford Arts Council. The grant program was created in 2009 to create and preserve jobs across a wide variety of sectors in the city by funding arts and heritage programming and projects within city borders.
Awards will range from $5,000 to $50,000. Programs or projects must occur during the 2011 calendar year. Areas targeted for grants include new or expanded programs, facilities improvements and youth arts employment.
Additional information, applications, and deadlines are posted online: LetsGoArts.org/HartfordArtsJobs. Intent to apply forms are due by Oct. 1; applications are due by Nov. 1. Award notification will be made in mid-December.
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Run Supports United Way
The 13th annual Pratt & Whitney 5K Run and Fitness Walk will be held rain or shine on Weednesday, Sept. 22, at 5:15 p.m. beginning from Rentschler Field, 615 Silver Lane, in East Hartford. The event benefits the 2010 United Way Community Campaign and is open to the public.
To register for the 5K run or for the 1.5-mile fitness walk, visit www.active.com/running/east-hartford-ct/pratt-and-whitney-runway-run-and-walk-to-benefit-the-united-way-2010. Online registration closes at 9 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 21. This year’s run and walk is a USA Track and Field sanctioned event.
Pratt & Whitney is a longtime supporter of the Community Campaign, which raised $25.5 million dollars last year to advance the common good in 40 towns across central and northeastern Connecticut. Last year, Pratt & Whitney raised more than $2.2 million for the local Community Campaign and $4.8 million nationwide.
