Ledyard shows love toward those in need
Ledyard - More than three tons of food was donated to the town's social services department this holiday season - filling up a large room in town hall, overflowing into a smaller one and taking up space in the department's refrigerators and freezers.
There's also the food that hasn't arrived yet: $1,260 worth of meat, vegetables and fruits available through grocery store gift cards.
And there are the colorful bags of toys that already were piling up before the final round of donations, which were expected to come in Thursday evening and Friday morning.
"The generosity of the people of this town is just phenomenal," said Mark Bancroft, assistant to Mayor John Rodolico. Although the mayor serves as the social services director, many of those responsibilities end up on Bancroft's task list.
The food drive, which culminated Friday afternoon when 86 families picked up donations at the Congregational Church, was a months-long process of reaching out to donors, processing collections and selling gift cards.
It began in October, when the Department of Social Services sent out letters to previous donors to find out whether they'd like to contribute again. Then each donor - sometimes an individual family, sometimes an organization like the Boy Scouts or Rotary Club - was matched with a family of whatever size met their preferences.
The donors sent boxes of food and bags of toys that matched up with the ages and genders of the family's children. In addition to those donations, the families lined up at the church each received a grocery store gift card and a bag of food from the Police Department's Stuff a Cruiser event. Turkeys and hams also were available.
Both the gift cards and the so-called "All the Fixings" bags - which contain pasta, pasta sauce, sweet corn, green beans, stuffing mix, cranberry sauce, instant mashed potatoes and gravy - were on sale at Village Market in Ledyard Center. The gift card donations were taken during grocery checkout, while the bags were sold for $10 each.
Residents donated 120 "All the Fixings" bags to the police department last weekend, which means there are some left over. Bancroft said 30 bags will go to senior citizens and the extras will be added to the town's food locker.
Some of the 86 recipient families contacted the town directly, while others were referred after asking someone else, such as a minister, for help.
"It's just gratifying to see them" lined up for the food and toys, said Pat Weiner, a part-time town hall employee who has helped organize the event for years. Weiner said many people have tears in their eyes and hug the volunteers.
Bancroft said he's long been impressed by the town's generosity and by the consistent flow of donations during the holidays. Just recently, he said, a volunteer called in sick and he posted to a community Facebook forum asking for last-minute help. He soon had six eager volunteers.
But the giving doesn't end after the holidays. The town's food pantry is kept well-stocked, helped in part by scout troops and an annual Post Office food drive. This summer, the Ledyard Garden Club provided 670 pounds of fresh vegetables.
The Ledyard Inter-Church Emergency Fund also regularly goes shopping for items the food pantry needs, for instance, jelly. Although never at a loss for jars of peanut butter, the pantry rarely receives jelly donations, meaning they can't stock the materials for the beloved peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
Ledyard, Bancroft concluded, is "just an unbelievably caring community of people" who "count their bounties" and feel compelled to share with those who are less fortunate.
A commenter on the Led yard Facebook forum, a community group monitored by Town Council Chairman Linda Davis, expressed Bancroft's sentiments more succinctly after dozens of residents began an impromptu organization of donations for a family displaced by a house fire.
Her modern, social-media-friendly hashtag for the phenomenon? #ledyardlove.
k.catalfamo@theday.com
Twitter: @kccatalfamo
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