From Aug. 8-13, food shelves in Southeastern Vermont will collect healthy lunch and snack foods and school supplies for children and families, providing assistance at a time when budgets are stretched thin to buy clothing, shoes, backpacks, and school supplies.
Food shelves participating in the Back to School Food and Supplies Drive are Our Place in Bellows Falls (802-463-2217), Chester-Andover Family Center (802-875-3236), Guilford Cares Food Pantry (802-257-0626), Groundworks Collaborative Food Shelf in Brattleboro (802-257-5415), Putney Foodshelf (802-387-8551), Springfield Family Center (802-885-3646), and Townshend Community Food Shelf (802-365-4348).
For more information, call the closest food shelf or look for posters in your town.
These seven organizations are working together to improve access to healthy local food. Requested food donations include: peanut butter, tuna fish, crackers, raisins, apple sauce, snack pudding or fruit cups, and non-sugary cereals.
School supplies suggested by a local teacher include: No. 2 pencils, pens, markers, crayons, colored pencils, zipper pencil cases, folders, paper (lined, construction, and plain) composition notebooks and 1-inch binders.
More than 20,000 children in Vermont and one in four children in Windham County are food insecure at some time during the year. Food insecurity is defined as the lack of access to enough food to fully meet basic needs at all times due to a lack of financial resources.