Connecticut Food Bank and United Way have partnered to increase the number of nutritious meals available to needy children and their families through The Kids BackPack Program. The program addresses food insecurity among low-income children by working with schools to provide food to children who may not have enough to eat at home on weekends.
Over 65 area business and civic leaders, government representatives, and community leaders gathered at the Oronoque Country Club for the Giving Babies a Healthy Start: A Congressional Dialogue breakfast on Monday, December 14th. The breakfast was a culmination of the work of the United Ways of Coastal Fairfield County, Greater New Haven, and Western CT to collect half a million diapers for lower income families, and to raise the awareness level of the challenges facing them in caring for their babies. The breakfast celebrated the success of the Healthy Baby Diaper Drives that took place across 33 towns throughout the months of September, October and November; recognized the many companies, civic organizations, schools, and municipalities that ran diaper drives; and announced the next steps to this important work.
Connecticut has had one of the highest increases in food insecurity in the nation, according to a recently released report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. There was a 2.8% increase in food insecurity from 2007 to 2008 which was the largest spike in the nation. This means more families are facing the difficult choice between providing food at the table and paying rent, utilities, or medical bills.
Hartford Courant, November 21, 2009
United Way takes regional approach to giving babies a healthy start by collecting over 300,000 diapers for The Diaper Bank. Healthy Baby Diaper Drive co-chairs, Janice Gruendel and Irene Cornish, made the announcement at a celebration on December 14th and the event kicked off support on a federal level.
The CT Post covered the event.
The New Haven Register recently reported that the Branford Rotary Club is hosting a 5K run and walk this Thanksgiving at the Walsh Intermediate School to help raise dollars for the construction of the Soundview YMCA teen center.
This year's campaign rally at Town Fair Tire's Corporate Headquarters featured Randy Whitcomb talking about how their giving has helped our communities through some tough times. Amy Townsley, Community Impact Coordinator, led the group through an introduction to Born Learning, United Way's national initiative to help parents feel comfortable as thier child's first teacher. Education begins when a child is born. The brain undergoes its most dramatic growth in the earliest years of life as children begin to develop their capacity to think, learn, speak, and reason.
United Way of Greater New Haven was recently featured in the New Haven Register about our Healthy Baby Diaper Drive.
"To meet this growing need, the United Ways of Greater New Haven, Coastal Fairfield County and Western Connecticut have kicked off a regional Healthy Baby Diaper Drive, in partnership with The Diaper Bank in New Haven. The goal is to collect 500,000 diapers for families in a 33-town area."
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