Seeing the terrible tragedy in the Philippines makes people want to help and the U.S. is leading the way in donations. Whether the rest of the world acknowledges our help or not, it is the right thing to do. These people are in desperate straights and need our help.
Closer to home, we have people in need as well. As Thanksgiving approaches, we want to be sure everyone in our community can enjoy the holiday with a delicious and nutritious meal. It is also a good time to remember that some people struggle with hunger all year long and that we want to assist them. You can help both goals by donating a turkey and any amount of money to Foodshare during its “Turkey and Thirty” Campaign. Why a turkey and money rather than a turkey and more food?
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By giving money rather than food, you multiply the effect of your donation. Foodshare gets most of its food from the food industry, which donates good food that would otherwise go to waste. Since most of the food is donated, every $30 that Foodshare receives is enough to feed a hungry person for an entire month. The money is spent transporting and refrigerating the food. If you spent $30 to buy food, depending on what you bought, you might come out of the store with only a bag or two of groceries – certainly not a months worth of food. You can stretch your dollars by giving them to Foodshare.
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There is an exception to the rule about giving money rather than food – giving a turkey at Thanksgiving. Why? Because you can buy a turkey for less than Foodshare can obtain one at wholesale costs due to the loss leader sales that the supermarkets run at in advance of the holiday.
Foodshare is the Hartford area’s regional food bank. It distributes 16 tons of food each day to a network of 300 local partners, composed mostly of food pantries, soup kitchens and shelters. The network serves over 128,000 people including more than 10,000 seniors, the working poor and nearly 50,000 children.
To find out how you can donate to the Turkey and Thirty Campaign, go to: http://site.foodshare.org/site/PageServer?pagename=latest_turkey. To give humanitarian relief to the victims of Typhoon Haiyan, you can go to: https://secure.americares.org/site/Donation2;jsessionid=F9B06D94075FA33B94025CB6A38177B0.app252b?df_id=15424&15424.donation=form1.
Thank you and Happy Thanksgiving.
