Foodshare has served over 100,000 households and has distributed over 3 million pounds of food over the past three months at its drive-thru food distribution site at Rentschler Field.
“We are grateful for our volunteers who continue to donate their time and to all of our donors who are helping us fund this very expensive distribution,” said Jason Jakubowski, President and CEO of Foodshare. “We will keep this operation running five days per week through the end of August, but at some point beyond August, we are going to have to start scaling back. The Rentschler Field distribution was never intended to be permanent, which is why we are encouraging everyone who is in need of food to also visit one of our partner programs or one of our Mobile Foodshare sites in Hartford and Tolland Counties.”
A recent survey conducted by the Foodshare Institute for Hunger Research & Solutions showed that 70% of visitors said that no one in their household has ever gone to a food pantry or Mobile Foodshare site before COVID-19. Over 80% said they would be willing to go to other sites to get food. A visitor from Plymouth said, “the food helps me focus on paying other bills.”
“We remain grateful to Governor Lamont, Lieutenant Governor Bysiewicz, and the Capital Region Development Authority for allowing us to continue to use Rentschler Field,” said Jakubowski.
Important information to share with the community:
Distribution dates: WEEKDAYS ONLY Monday, August 3 through Friday, August 28; 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 250 pantries, community kitchens, and Mobile Foodshare sites throughout the region.
Community members unable to drive to East Hartford can access help through the following:
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- Mobile Foodshare an outdoor pantry-on-wheels, to find a site near you please text “FOODSHARE” to 85511 or go to foodshare.org/mobile.
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- 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