They call it “food insecurity”
They call it “food insecurity” these days.
I don’t like that.
It makes it sound less tragic than what it really is: Hunger- stomach- rumbling, one-meal-a-day hunger. The hunger crisis was already bad enough, but the pandemic has made it worse. Much worse.
Thank God there are organizations to address this plight. The Corner Food Pantry in Lakeville is one of them. It serves people from Pawling, NY to Torrington, CT without turning anyone away.
They are quick to tell you that they are blessed with generous donors who help keep the doors open, but the need grows. The Pantry serves 75 to 100 families (around 400 people) a week, and those ranks have been growing by one or two families every week.
The Little Guild in West Cornwall takes care of our furry population. They are a no-kill facility that rescues, nurtures and finds forever homes for dogs and cats. Like the Corner Pantry, The Little Guild has loyal supporters, but although adoptions are up, donations are down, the pet food pantry is dwindling. The Guild’s biggest fundraiser, the Run and Wag 5K has turned virtual this year. We’ll see how that goes.
But today (Saturday) several huge-hearted organizations got together to run a food drive for both the Corner Pantry and the Little Guild. The Tri-State Chamber of Commerce, Salisbury Bank & Trust, NW CT Walk to End Alzheimer’s, Lime Rock Park Catering and Salisbury Rotary joined forces to run a Donation Drive at the Lakeville Methodist Church. These are both businesses that give year round to their communities and non-profits that could probably use some help themselves. But today their efforts went to help others. And help they did. Tina Hogan from the Alzheimer’s Association told me the Drive was a “Great Success”.
Thank you all for what you do!
Tri-State Strong Donation Drive
The Tri-State Strong Donation Drive will be held Saturday, October 10, 2020 at 10 AM – 2 PM
at Lakeville United Methodist Church of Lakeville, CT
Public · Hosted by Tri-State Chamber of Commerce
Help out your neighbors in need by donating to The Corner Food Pantry and The Little Guild animal shelter.
Items being collected: non-perishable food items, household supplies such as laundry detergent, pet food and supplies, gift cards to local grocery stores or financial donations. Checks may be made out to The Corner Food Pantry or The Little Guild. No clothing, furniture or used goods please.
Place items in your trunk and drive up to the contact-less drop-off located at the Lakeville Methodist Church.
The church is located at 319 Main Street in Lakeville. Volunteers will be at the church to remove items from your trunk.
This event is sponsored by the Tri-State Chamber of Commerce, Salisbury Bank and Trust, the Northwestern Connecticut Walk to End Alzheimer’s, Lime Rock Park Catering, and the Salisbury Rotary Club.
HOUSY 2019 Alumni Basketball Game
The HOUSY 2019 Alumni Basketball Game will be held Friday, December 27, 2019 at the Housatonic Valley Regional High School gym, 236 Warren Turnpike Road, Falls Village, CT 06031.
The fundraiser game pits the current varsity boys and girls players against the 2016 alumni players.
There is no official entry fee, but donations will be greatly appreciated.
Proceeds from the game will benefit The Little Guild which rescues, nurtures and finds loving homes for dogs and cats.
Game time is 5:00 pm.
There will also be baked goods for sale, a raffle and a halftime contest.
For more information email jacquireamanda@gmail.com.
To learn more about The Little Guild visit: www.littleguild.org.
Ideas for Another Kind of Gift
Tis the giving season, is it not? If you’ve already completed your shopping list for the usual suspects and have a few bucks left over to spread additional cheer, here are some gift ideas of the non- profit kind.
Love animals? The Little Guild in West Cornwall, CT https://www.littleguild.org/ rescues homeless dogs and cats and finds loving homes for them. A donation of $25 will buy a one-day supply of food for all of their animals; $50 vaccinates one animal for a year or helps pay the cost to spay a cat ($150) or neuter a dog ($300). Or maybe adopt a pet…
Who isn’t moved by the notion of a child at risk? Berkshire County Kids Place https://www.kidsplaceonline.org/ in Pittsfield, MA picks up the pieces of children damaged by sexual and domestic violence and makes them whole. When a child comes in for a therapy session they get a snack first. $10 buys all of the kids snacks for a week. $50 covers most of a private therapy session for a child. Usually it takes 12 – 24 sessions per child.
Continuing the focus on children, Brooker Memorial https://www.brookermemorial.org/ in Torrington, CT provides early learning, child care, pediatric dental care and child therapy for youngsters in need. $25 will buy a week’s supply of healthy snacks for 10 kids or dental screening for one child. $50 will provide one month of art supplies for two classrooms or a dental cleaning for one child.
Adopt-a-Family in Millerton, NY cares about the young ones too. Headquartered at Moore & More Printing ( 518 789-4508), Stacey Moore and her large band of helpers provide clothing and toys (non-electronic) to some 300 kids up to age 13. Each child gets a winter coat, boots and three toys. A $50 or $100 donation will put a big dent in that per child cost.
Hunger may be our greatest scourge. Gratefully, there are many non- profits dedicated to feeding our residents-in-need. One of them is the Sunday In The Country Food Drive http://sundayinthecountryfooddrive.com/. They are based in Millerton, NY, but they serve 18 towns throughout the Tri-State area. They provide Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners to over 300 families. A $25 gift will provide a family of six with a complete holiday dinner including a 14-16 pound turkey.
Special Olympics is one of the most beloved of international charities. It allows children and adults with intellectual challenges to participate in and succeed in 26 different sports throughout the year. And the “United Sports” program partners challenged athletes with non-challenged high schoolers to compete together. Everyone wins. a $30 donation buys a basketball. If you care to give on the installment plan, $15 a month funds year round sports activities for three athletes. Each state manages its own programs. Connecticut https://www.soct.org/; Massachusetts https://www.specialolympicsma.org/ and New York https://www.specialolympics-ny.org/ . A $65 donation will earn you a Special Olympics tree ornament.
Robin Hood Radio’s http://www.robinhoodradio.com/ home is in Sharon, CT, and it serves the Tri-State region. It is an NPR station providing local and national news and entertainment as well as providing public service announcements about non-profit activities throughout the year. Robin Hood Radio is a non-profit that needs our support. A $25 or $50 donation would help pay for stringers who report local news or help support an emergency fund take care of equipment failures, among many other expenses.
The Jane Lloyd Fund https://www.thejanelloydfund.org/ provides financial help for cancer patients in the Northwest Corner by paying their living expenses while they concentrate on healing. A $50 donation could cover a tank of gas to drive to treatments, or pay for part of an electric bill or a piece of a mortgage payment. No donation is too small.
Housatonic Youth Service Bureau (HYSB) https://hysb.org/ . Counselors at HYSB offer free counseling to youngsters in Region 1 in Connecticut addressing a broad array of emotional needs from depression and anxiety to avoiding school, and support children and families coping with personal or economic crises, emotional or physical neglect, trauma, substance abuse and more. A $50 donation to HYSB will pay for one counseling session.
The Salisbury Winter Sports Association (SWSA) http://www.jumpfest.org/ in Salisbury Connecticut has been teaching youngsters to ski – cross country, downhill and jumping for 94 years. They provide skiing scholarships for four area grade school downhill programs and maintain 20, 30 and 70 meter jumps at their Satre Hill facilities as well as host the annual Eastern Ski Jumping Championships. A $50 donation to SWSA will fund two hours of landing hill snow grooming or travel expenses for a SWSA jumper to compete at other eastern hills.
These are just 10 of the 300 or so charities found on the pages of sportingAcause.com, all of which are doing heroic work to improve lives in our part of the world. Please remember them when gift-giving this holiday season.
Little Guild Run and Wag 5K
The Little Guild Run and Wag 5K will be held Saturday, Oct. 19, 2019 at the Cornwall Town Green, Pine St., Cornwall, CT 06796. This is the event’s 6th year.
There will be ample parking in the village of Cornwall.
The 3.1 mile out and back race is sponsored by The Little Guild and is open to runners and walkers either with or without dogs.
Please visit https://runandwag5k.com/ to register and to find a list of dog rules.
Please consider the “Fundraise” button to help collect more donations. Pre-registration fee is $25 per person or person/pet teams. Race day entry fee is $30. For 17 year olds and under, entry fee is $15.
Festivities will include activities and entertainment for children and live local music. Food will be available from Big Green Eggs and Hamburgers and Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream.
Timing is by greystoneracing.com.
The race day schedule is as follows:
10:00 – 11:45 am Registration and packet pickup.
12 Noon 5K begins
1:30 pm Award ceremony.
2:00 pm Event ends
Awards will be presented to the top Dog/Human teams, male and female, and the top male and female solo runners. Top individual and team fundraisers will also receive awards.
The Run & Wag is one of the Little Guild’s primary fundraising events, with all proceeds supporting its day-to-day mission to rescue and find loving homes for the dogs and cats in its care.
To learn more about the Little Guild visit littleguild.org.
Last year’s race drew 140 human competitors.
The Little Guild welcomes Sponsor support. Contact LGrunandwag@littleguild.org .
Thank you to these generous sponsors:
Gold Paw Sponsor:
Drs. Jill & George Hetson
Silver Paw Sponsors:
Aspetuck Animal Hospital
Cornwall Country Market
Falls Village Inn
Freund’s Farm Market
Harney & Sons Fine Teas
Herrington’s
Sand Road Animal Hospital
TrailHeads
Bronze Paw Sponsors:
Bain Real Estate
Center Subaru
Goshen Wine & Spirits
Katherine O’Brien
LaBonne’s Markets
Lakeville Interiors
McEnroe Organic Farm
Millerton Veterinary Practice
National Iron Bank
Park Lane Animal Hospital
Petpourri
Richard E. McCue Inc.
Studio Lakeville
The Equus Effect
The Market CT
The Studio at 41 Gay Street
Thornhill Flower & Garden Shop
Torrington Savings Bank
Lime Rock Park 2019 Season Kickoff Celebration
The Lime Rock Park 2019 Season Kickoff Celebration will be held Saturday, May 18, 2019 at Lime Rock Park, 60 White Hollow Road, Lakeville, CT 06039.
The public is invited to this family-friendly event which celebrates the new racing season at Lime Rock Park. The day will feature cars on the track all day, music, local craft breweries, food trucks, local vendors, face painting, games bounce house, giveaways and more.
The event runs from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm.
Entry to this event is free, but visitors are asked to bring a canned food or pet food item to support both The Corner Food Pantry and The Little Guild. Other non-profits like the Sharon Bargain Barn will be offering their vintage clothing line.
The Kickoff Celebration is sponsored by the Tri-State Chamber of Commerce, the Northwest CT Chamber of Commerce, CPTV Kids and Wheels of Time Auto Restoration.
For more information call (860) 435-5000. or email limerock.com@limerock.
To learn more about Lime Rock Park visit limerock.com.
