Foodshare has served more than 135,000 households over the past four months at its drive-thru food distribution at Rentschler Field.
“Starting in September we will be distributing food at Rentschler Field on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. Over the next few weeks we will continue to educate our community on the resources available to them throughout Greater Hartford to access free food,” said Jason Jakubowski, President and CEO.
A recent survey conducted by the Foodshare Institute showed that over 80% of visitors to the East Hartford site were willing to go to other sites to get food but most were unaware of existing programs. With over 60 Mobile Foodshare sites throughout Hartford and Tolland counties and with a strong community network of nearly 200 pantries and meal programs, Foodshare is encouraging people to access these resources.
“We remain grateful to Governor Lamont, Lieutenant Governor Bysiewicz for allowing us to continue to use Rentschler Field,” said Jakubowski. “In particular, we also want to thank Mike Freimuth and the Capital Region Development Authority for all of their support over these past few months. Distributing food is certainly not the intended use of the Rentschler complex, but the CRDA has been incredibly understanding of our critical work at this very difficult time.”
A NEW SCHEDULE STARTING SEPTEMBER 1st
We will be distributing food at Rentschler Field on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays; 8:30 am – 12:00 pm
Address: 615 Silver Lane, East Hartford, CT 06118 – Silver Lane entrance; gates will close at Noon
One allocation of food per car to ensure that we have enough food for everyone.
This emergency distribution at Rentschler Field is in addition to Foodshare’s ongoing efforts to provide food to a network of over 260 pantries, community kitchens, and Mobile Foodshare sites throughout the region. We will continue to support our network to ensure they are prepared to handle the increased attendance as a result of COVID-19 and that all safe, social distancing measures are in place.
Community members can access help through the following:
- Mobile Foodshare an outdoor pantry-on-wheels, to find a site near you please text “FOODSHARE” to 85511 or go to foodshare.org/mobile.
- To find a food pantry and other resources near you, call 2-1-1 or go to https://www.211ct.org/.
If you are interested in volunteering or would like to donate to help us continue to serve our neighbors visit www.foodshare.org