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Congressman Chris Murphy Visits Gifts of Love
Congressman Chris Murphy visited Gifts of Love on September 7. He toured the Gifts of Love office, met clients and learned first hand about the issues facing many people in our area. He also visited St. Ann's Church where the Mobile Foodshare unit,  along with a team of volunteers was distributing fresh produce to Valley residents. He then traveled to the Simsbury Community Farm where fruits and vegetables are grown for Gifts of Love and the Farmington Valley food pantries.
Gifts of Love is moving past the Ramen Noodles to provide people with healthy alternatives, even in tough economic times and is working with the Community Farm of Simsbury. Gifts of Love and the Community Farm of Simsbury are growing crops  and teaching children about were food comes from - not from a window where they are asked if they would like fries with that. In conjunction with the Volunteen program (teen age volunteers), we harvest the produce for distribution to the Farmington Valley food pantries and assist clients with ideas about how to cook the fresh grown items.
Mobile Foodshare takes perishable food items such as highly nutritious fruits and vegetables directly to the people who need it most. By working with a network of sponsoring agencies, like Gifts of Love and Avon Social Services, that provide neighborhood sites and the volunteers to manage them, they provided over 2.6 million pounds of produce in 2009. A Mobil unit visits Avon every other Tuesday for Valley residents.
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Back To School 
This August we gave out 536 school supply backpacks. We received tremendous community support for the program, including help from The Hartford. This is up from the 400 backpacks we gave out last year. We provide children with fully stocked backpacks loaded with pencils, paper, dictionaries and more, so that they can start off the school year well supplied. We are proud to assist these children with a solid start to their education.
Thanks to a grant we were also able to give each child a $50 gift card to purchase shoes, a new outfit, or additional supplies. By assisting our clients with school supplies, we allow them to use their income on other necessities such as rent, utilities and medications. Prior to assistance from Gifts of Love, many of our families were forced to choose between food and fuel. A recent Boston City Hospital study concluded that during the colder months, cases of undernourished children increased by 30%. This is known as the "Heat or Eat" dilemma that many families face during the winter months. A study done by the Community Childhood Hunger Identification Project concluded that 41% of low-income families with school-aged children in Hartford were chronically hungry and 35% were at risk of hunger. This issue is now spreading to the working poor in the suburbs at an alarming rate.
Click here for photos of the kids heading back to school |
ShopRite Bag Hunger Day
September 22 local organizations went to ShopRite in Canton to help bag groceries and raise awareness of the issue of hunger in our area. Shoppers were asked to donate $1 to the fight against hunger.
This event now has official recognition in Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania. To commemorate the day and call attention to its significance in the fight against hunger, mayors, state senators, community leaders and local organizations such as Gifts of Love worked hard at more than 140 ShopRite locations by helping to "bag" hunger in their communities. While we were bagging groceries for customers, cashiers were busy scanning "Heart and Hands" cards for monetary donations made to the ShopRite Partners In Caring Fund.* During the month of September, ShopRite stores raised nearly $500,000.
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Avon Day Can Tower
People at Avon Day were asked to guess how many cans were in the Gifts of Love can tower, and the answer is . . . .808!
Many were close but the closest guess was 810! The winner received a gift certificate to Hot Heaven Pizza in Old Avon Village. Thanks to all who visited the Gifts of Love booth and took a guess!
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An Evening on the Farm
Gifts of Love and the Simsbury Community Farm welcomed the Simsbury, Granby and East Granby Chambers to the farm for a Business After Hours event where appetizers were served made with fresh vegetables from the teaching garden. Most of the produce grown in the 1 acre garden is donated to Gifts of Love and Simsbury Social Services.
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