Category: Community Service

MOW 2026 by MONTH 260217

MOW Roster

Food Bank
Mike Feehan, Lou Aiello

Food prices have risen significantly since 2021.  That means many people now face much tougher decisions about how to spend limited resources. Rent? Utilities? Food? The number of people in Connecticut who are considered “food insecure” is still rising.

Food insecurity means not having reliable and affordable access to nutritious food. Over 16% of Connecticut children – 1 out of every 6 – are considered food insecure.   Every dollar we give helps food charities supply food to people in need, in our communities. Just as a reminder, Old Guard uses a 5X food-value multiplier for our donations to Foodshare. This is because Connecticut Foodshare acquires food for distribution from its many food sources at an average of at least 80% off retail price.  So every dollar donated to Foodshare, enables them to buy at least $5 worth of food.  That’s why we multiply the impact of our member Foodshare donations by 5Xs. That’s probably a conservative multiplier.

From time to time, Foodshare is given a matching grant, usually by foundations.  We alert members to these opportunities right away via email, because they are always time-sensitive.  Application of any such matching to Foodshare donations increases their value above 5Xs.

How to donate

Member donations should be made directly to the food charity of your choice:
Donations to Connecticut Foodshare
Website: www.ctfoodshare.org
Regular mail:  Connecticut Foodshare
PO Box 150526
Hartford, CT 06115-0526
Phone # (203)-469-5000

Donations to West Hartford Foodbank
Website www.westhartfordct.gov/tttc
Regular mail: The Town that cares
West Hartford Social Services
50 South Main Street room 130
West Hartford, CT. 06107
Phone # Susan Oslander (860)-561-7580

Donations to Loaves and Fishes
Website:  https://loavesfishesministries.org
Regular mail:  Loaves and Fishes
646 Prospect Street
Hartford, CT. 06105
Phone (860)524-1730

Donations to The House of Bread
Website:  https://houseofbread.org
Regular mail:  The House of Bread
27 Chestnut Street
Hartford, CT
Phone: (860)278-3561

In addition to the food charities listed above, there are many more in Connecticut. Here are
links to them:
More In West Hartford (*)
https://www.foodpantries.org/ci/ct-west_hartford

More In Hartford (*)
https://www.foodpantries.org/ci/ct-hartford

More In Connecticut (by Town) (*)
https://www.foodpantries.org/st/connecticut

Old Guard believes that all legitimate, well-managed food charities do good work. We wantour website to be a convenient place to help members find such food charities. The intent is not to influence your giving, but to list the alternatives in our Towns and in Connecticut. It remains 100% your choice whether to donate and, if so, to which organizations.

Whenever you decide to donate please remember to
(a) Send your donation directly to the Food Charity you choose
(b) Advise the Food Charity that you are an Old Guard member, and
(c) Tell Mike Feehan or Lou Aiello the charity you chose, and amount of your gift.
This helps us keep track of the total Old Guard impact in our communities. As always, only aggregate numbers are reported. Individual donation information is kept 100% confidential.

(*) Note these links are managed by foodpantires.0rg.
The links marked with (*) are the most recently available from foodpantries.org. foodpantries.org is not associated with any government agency or nonprofit organization. It maintains links to sites that list Food Pantries throughout the US, not only in Connecticut. It collects its information manually for Food Banks, Soup Kitchens, and non-profit, and is accurate to the best of its knowledge and ability.

More Info About Food Pantries in General can be found here
https://legalclarity.org/what-is-a-food-pantry-program-and-how-does-it-work/