NEW HAVEN — United Way of Greater New Haven (UWGNH) and local partners came together on Tuesday, February 22, to feed 1,200 New Haven Public School (NHPS) families.
UWGNH coordinated this collaborative partnership with NHPS, the Coordinated Food Access Network (CFAN) pantry partners, and CT Food Share to address the school holiday meal gap.
While New Haven students are on break, they do not have the opportunity to receive breakfast, lunch, or dinner from their school. Partners identified neighborhoods with the highest levels of food insecurity in New Haven and distributed a week's worth of groceries to families in Fair Haven, the Hill, Dixwell/Newhallville, and West Rock.
CT Food Share pantry partners Loaves & Fishes, Cathedral of Higher Praise, Breakthrough Church, and NICE coordinated with NHPS Food Service drivers to collect food staples from CT Food Share and UWGNH supplemented additional fresh produce. Teams of volunteers packed groceries, which drivers from NHPS Food Services delivered to each distribution site. Additional volunteers distributed the groceries at four NHPS locations.
"What we wanted to do here was provide families with groceries and fresh produce so they can choose how they use that. This can be food that lasts them for the course of the week until students come back to school,” said Aly Fox, UWGNH Vice President for Community Impact.
Click here to learn more about United Way's work to fight hunger and how you can get involved.
