Purchases of ladies’ purses has led to an effort to “bag” hunger in the Rose City. Some 450 of the donated items were given away for recommended $10 donations each, with all proceeds given to Norwich Human Services in the form of supermarket gift cards for the needy.

The project was the brainchild of the city’s Director of Planning and Neighborhood Services, Deanna Rhodes. She says city Assistant Planner Dan Daniska was moving, and he discovered bins of purses, most of which were still sealed unopened in plastic, that his ex-wife received several years ago as part of a fund-raiser for the schools. The items were left over from that effort, and had been sitting in the house for three years.

“I just took them sight unseen,” said Rhodes. “I knew I could do something with them.”

First, she and her husband sorted through the hundreds of bags, and took out those that weren’t wrapped. The pandemic was emerging, and she said she didn’t want to include any items that might have been touched by anybody. The unwrapped purses were donated to Goodwill.

“It came to me right away to launch a “Bag Hunger” campaign in Norwich, with the more than 400 wrapped purses,” Rhodes said. “The hunger issue has always been close to my heart,” pointing to the services offered by the local Saint Vincent de Paul Soup Kitchen, and city Human Services. “I had asked on Facebook for donations in my name to Saint Vincent’s back in April in honor of my birthday.”

Rhodes says the COVID pandemic has exacerbated the situation, with “so many people losing their jobs. I wanted to work with the city’s Human Services Department because they help so many people.”

Messages quickly went up on Facebook starting in April, announcing the fund-raising effort. Local media also spread the word. Rhodes enlisted the help of city alderwoman Stacey Gould.

“I look up to her because of her philanthropic efforts with the Rotary Club and the East Great Plains Volunteer Fire Department,” he said. “She has a great network of contacts, and she jumped right on board with the purse project.”

Bozrah Holiday Market

Donations for the bags were steady, but hampered a bit with the lack of fairs and other public events due to COVID. A final push in November, though, at the Bozrah Holiday Market, saw the final 150 available purses being sold.

“Some people were really generous, as they just wanted to make a donation, but not take the bag,” he said. Those that weren’t taken were given to the city’s Human Services Christmas Collection to be used as holiday gifts for the needy.”, said Rhodes.

The “Bag Hunger” drive benefitted more than $4,400 in supermarket gift cards, to be distributed to those served by Human Services. Department Director Lee-Ann Gomes says the help is sorely needed. “I have worked in the human services field for 35 years. I have never seen anything as bad as what is happening now.” she said. “We have seen a whole cadre of people that we haven’t had to see before in our department. Their bills are higher than normal, because they had been working their whole lives, and then something like losing a job unexpectedly happens.”

Gomes notes when people are facing hard times, they usually cut back on food purchases.

“You have to pay your rent, you have to pay your utility bill. Food is the one thing in your budget you can shrink. You can fill up on rice and macaroni, but that’s not especially healthy.”

Her department will distribute the gift cards, based on family size and the need of those who seek help.

“That’s what makes the ‘Bag Hunger’ program so great,” she said. “There’s no eligibility restrictions or strict guidelines. It’s all at our discretion,” eliminating red tape.

Gomes says the recent issuance of COVID vaccines shows there is hope down the road. “We just have to get people over this last hill. Hopefully by May or June, most people will be vaccinated, and things can get back to normal.”

Meanwhile, Rhodes is very pleased with the result of the purse fund-raiser. “It was so awesome. I asked Stacey, ‘What are we going to do next?’”

Kevin Gorden lives in Norwich.