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Helping
Putnam Boy Scout Troop 21 Senior Patrol Leader Angelo DeSalvio 17, of Putnam, helped to carry donated items into the Interfaith Human Services of Putnam – Daily Bread Food Pantry during the recent combined Troop 21 and Cargill Council 64, K of C food drive. Photo: John D. Ryan
Scouts, Knights
collect food,
raise money
for local needy
PUTNAM — Members of Putnam’s Boy Scout Troop 21and Knights of Columbus Cargill Council 64 spent last Saturday at the Cargill Council Hall on Providence Street collecting food, personal care items and money for the Interfaith Human Services of Putnam (IHSP) – Daily Bread Food Pantry. Meanwhile, another work crew collected food donated for the pantry by generous customers just down the street at Putnam Supermarket. All of this added to the effort just a few days before, when Troop 21 hauled a donation of breakfast cereal to Putnam, from Weetabix North America’s facility in Clinton, Mass.
More than 100 man-hour’s work netted over 1,100 pounds of non-perishable food and almost $100 in cash for the private, non-profit, interfaith food pantry for the needy.
Run by Interfaith Human Services of Putnam, IHSP – Daily Bread Program Coordinator Kathi Peterson, of Putnam, said the pantry provides non-perishable food every month for an average of at least 250 needy families, accounting for more than 750 people, in the towns of Putnam, Pomfret, Woodstock and Eastford.
“We see many two-parent families struggling, trying to survive on two part-time jobs,” Peterson said. “We’re here to provide food support when we can for those who need it.”
The non-profit, interfaith charitable IHSP – Daily Bread Food Pantry provides literally thousands of meals every month from its headquarters at the Living Faith United Methodist Church, on Grove Street in Putnam.
To help their neighbors in need, members of Boy Scout Troop 21 and K of C Council 64 join forces twice a year to run food drives. The two organizations came together on Saturday in the person of Peter A. Lombardo, 51, of Putnam, who is both Troop 21’s Scoutmaster and one of Council 64’s Past Grand Knights.
“Worldwide, the Knights of Columbus have a ‘Food for Families’ campaign that Cargill Council has been part of since we started the council’s annual food collection in (March of) 2009,” he said. “Our Scouts are here because it gets them outside themselves, into their community, to see that there are people here who don’t have what they have. The Boy Scouts of America has its nationwide ‘Scouting for Food’ program. This gives our Scouts the chance to help.”
Troop 21 Assistant Scoutmaster and Cargill Council Brother Knight Casey Dundon, 19, of Putnam, was there to help. “It’s hard; not everybody can afford things right now,” he said. “We’re helping people in our community.”
During Saturday’s drive dozens of motorists pulled into the parking lot with their money and bags of groceries, while Putnam Supermarket customers were making their donations nearby. Just after noon, the group trucked everything over to Daily Bread, and took care of the unloading.
Although the drive is over, IHSP – Daily Bread still needs help. Checks may be mailed to: P.O. Box 281, Putnam, CT 06260.