With Greater Hartford food banks reporting consistently high demands, the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving has awarded $450,000 in grants to 67 nonprofit agencies based in 13 communities to help restock empty shelves as well as support programs supplying other basic human needs such as clothing, emergency shelter, health care and fuel assistance.
“We are seeing an alarmingly large increase in numbers of people coming to receive weekly groceries,” said Linda Bridge, executive director of the Enfield food Shelf. “Unfortunately, the amount of donations and/or the food supply is decreasing.”
Enfield Food Shelf has 944 families registered, one-third for the first time, said Bridge. More than 400 families receive assistance each week. That’s 2,526 individuals, 1,068 of them children. Nearly 300,000 pounds of food has been distributed so far this year.
Dave Engelson, CEO of the Hockanum Valley Community Council, which serves Vernon-Rockville, Ellington and Tolland, is seeing the same thing.
“We are seeing more and more individuals and families falling upon hard times that need help due to the lagging economy,” he said. “We are having an extremely difficult time keeping enough food on our pantry shelves to keep up with the demand that is increasing every month.”
The Hockanum Valley Community Council has experienced a 28 percent increase in the number of individuals served so far this year at its Tri-Town Food Pantry, compared to last year, said Engelson. Approximately 3,500 food items are distributed weekly, compared to 2,500 last year. Yet the food pantry reports a 50 percent reduction in donated food items per week this year.
The Hartford Foundation grants range between $3,000 and $15,000, depending on the size of the agency programs funded. The grants are supported primarily by the Beatrice Fox Auerbach Foundation Fund at the Hartford Foundation with additional support from other funds at the Foundation.
Grants were awarded to agencies in Avon, Bloomfield, East Hartford, Hartford, Manchester, Newington, Rocky Hill, Simsbury, Windsor, West Hartford and Wethersfield, as well as Enfield and Vernon. Two-thirds of the grants directly involve food aid programs.
Some of the nonprofit agencies receiving grants for other basic support programs include Operation Fuel, based in Bloomfield, for its energy and fuel assistance programs, the YWCA Hartford Region for its shelter services, The Bridge Family Center in West Hartford for mental health services and Malta House of Care for its mobile medical clinics.
The Hartford Foundation for Public Giving is the community foundation for the 29-town Greater Hartford region.
In brief
The Greater Hartford Arts Council has made 20 community events grants totaling $70,000 in support of events, festivals and activities that highlight the rich cultural diversity of Connecticut’s capital city… East Catholic High School in Manchester is one of nine Northeast schools to share in $45,000 in arts grants from Bob’s Discount Furniture. The $5,000 from the chain’s seventh annual Celebrate the Arts Contest will be used to support and maintain the schools’ dance, music and fine arts programs during the 2012-13 school year… The Brain Injury Alliance of Connecticut has received a $32,535 grant from the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving to help support the agency’s Helpline, the state’s only mechanism for receiving and responding to calls and email for assistance from brain injury survivors and families. Funds from the grant will be used for a brain injury specialist to staff the Helpline and also cover expenses associated with providing socialization opportunities for brain injury survivors and their families.
