Box truck will help the effort
Coffeehouse's Food Share is Feb. 5
By Linda Lemmon
Town Crier Editor
PUTNAM — The addition of a small box truck will improve logistics even more for the Danielson Veterans Coffeehouse’s Food Share.
Food Share organizer Bruce Hay said the truck was funded with a $5,000 grant from the Putnam Area Foundation. Instead of using a pickup truck and a trailer for food pickup, Hay said the truck, complete with a Tommy gate, will give him a better chance of picking up more. “I’d even be able to pick up pallets.” The box truck came from Midwest Food Bank New England. They were buying a larger truck.
The Food Share is set for Thursday, Feb. 5 at the farmers’ market pavilion off Kennedy Drive. It’s a drive-through and is open to anyone. Hay said he plans to open the line at 9:30 a.m.
He’s already gathered the items for the banana boxes. The usual items include popcorn, chips, sodas and drinks and candy and more. He said there will also be some frozen food available.
As per “tradition” the Connecticut Food Share and the Midwest truck will arrive at the pavilion in the morning and it’s then that Hay gets to see what foods will be available. He then quickly figures out what goes where and the volunteers get busy packing boxes and bags with the items.
Not knowing what’s available until the morning of, he said, “Makes it a challenge for me.”
He said when he made his run this week he got a sneak peek — “I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a pallet of sweet potatoes,” he said.
Last month Hay said more than 300 cars passed through and they didn’t finish until 12:30 p.m. In addition the group supplies other food donation services, such as the Putnam Elks and the veteran organizations, with food.
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