Cornerstone Foundation Digital Community Newsletter Cornerstone Newsletter Fall 2017 | Page 6

Please support the events on this page that support Cornerstone!

Happy Anniversary Food Cupboard!

Events Supporting Cornerstone

Please let us know if you have an event to support Cornerstone so we can advertise

it here.

The Cornerstone Food Cupboard is now one year old. It opened on September 10, 2016 and has grown continuously ever since. The Cupboard provides food assistance to any family/household that meets the income requirements of the Federal Food Assistance Program (TEFA). In our first year, over 500 families/households have registered to receive our help. With the transient nature of the Rockville area, many of our clients are with us for a short period and then move to another location. However, we have regularly had 350 or more families/households registered, and that represents about 600 individuals. We average 5-8 new families/households registering each week.

Our clients may obtain food once a week and on average we have 200-250 of our client families that come for food at least once a month. Those families represent 400-500 individuals, and we have been providing food that is the equivalent of 10,000 meals monthly.

Most of our nonperishable food comes from Foodshare which serves food pantries and soup kitchens in Tolland and Hartford counties. Some of the Foodshare food is provided by the government, and that food is free. Foodshare also offers other food that we can purchase at a fraction of what we would have to pay at a grocery store.

We are also now receiving weekly deliveries of free produce and refrigerator items from the Big Y’s in Ellington, Tolland, and Stafford Springs; Price Chopper in Vernon; Walmart in Manchester; and Aldi’s in Vernon. And we have been well supported by donations from churches, civic organizations, and many individuals.

The Cupboard is run entirely by a team of over 50 volunteers. Some volunteers work when the Cupboard is open, others pick up food from the grocery stores or Foodshare and process that food.

The Cupboard is open for client shopping on Tuesdays from 9:00 a.m. until noon and on Saturdays from noon until 2:00 p.m.

Donations of nonperishable food items or grocery store gift cards may be delivered to the Cupboard when it is open or left at the Cornerstone Soup Kitchen when the Cupboard is closed.

There is now a Cornerstone Food Cupboard donation box at the Vernon Stop & Shop. The box is located on the wall behind the cash registers. Thank you Store Manager Ron Ogulewicz for supporting Cornerstone!