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11/18/2014 11:00 PMEast Haven Rotarian Bob Parente wishes his club didn't have to offer an annual free Thanksgiving meal to town residents. For Parente, the service is important; the volunteer experience gratifying. But the initiative's vitality also underscores an ever-growing need in the community—one that is evident across the shoreline.
"It actually started off to be a one-year situation," Parente says of the Rotary Thanksgiving meal program, now in its eighth year. "The first year we had three people who came to sit down for dinner with us [at the Senior Center] and we delivered 45 meals and had about 30 people who picked up [takeout meals]...Unfortunately [the numbers] have grown. In a perfect world I wish we wouldn't have to serve any dinners."
In 2013, Parente says East Haven Rotary served 150 dinners in total, and calls from residents requesting home delivery on Thanksgiving Day have been steady so far this year. While that's no surprise, Parente has noticed something new this season.
"I've gotten more calls this year from parents...who say, 'We want to bring our child down to be part of the assembly line' [to serve the meal]...The parents have really taken hold of this particular function...It's such a lesson to be taught to the children that there are people even here in East Haven who don't have enough food to eat...It's a bit of a rude awakening for some [of the children], but it's heartwarming to see" them help out.
Further east on the shoreline, serving towns between Madison and East Lyme, is another organization that believes in the importance of shedding light on food insecurity: the non-profit Shoreline Soup Kitchens & Pantries (SSKP). SSKP operates several meal sites and grocery-distribution locations (for a full list, visit www.shorelinesoupkitchens.org), all of which are increasingly well-utilized.
Compared to this time last year, "we have about 18 percent more people registering at our pantries," says SSKP Executive Director Patricia Dowling. "We're giving out about seven percent more food, so we have more people in need...Some people may be coming less [frequently], but more people are coming."
Dowling says she wants people to realize that everyone knows someone who is affected by hunger.
"When people think of their lives and they think of the people they know, they can pretty much put together a list of people who [meet the criteria of need]...and that's all across the state and all across the nation.
"The vast majority of the people we see at our food pantries are working and they're not making enough to make ends meet, or the housing that they have to pay for is such a large percentage of their salary that they can't pay for food, or they have large medical expenses," she says. Utilizing SSKP's services "really helps them stretch their dollars in other areas where they don't have that flexibility."
Perhaps because of the human face SSKP gives to its clients, the organization sees a hearty volunteer presence on Thanksgiving Day, when it serves a holiday meal starting at 1 p.m. at Grace Episcopal Church in Old Saybrook. The emphasis of the day, says Dowling, is togetherness.
"Between the volunteers [and those being served]...it's really an amazing mix of people...It's really a community dinner...We have people who are coming because they can't cook a meal for themselves or they would be alone that day and they want to be in a more family or community setting, to be with other people...Everyone is welcome to come—whether you can't provide a meal in your house or you don't want to be alone on that day, [or] you've had a life change or just moved here."
Dowling says she's always impressed by area residents' "generous heart[s]," not only at Thanksgiving time and during the holiday season, but year-round.
That outpouring of generosity is felt elsewhere in the region, as well.
In Guilford, Social Services Director Tammy DeFrancesco says the Guilford Food Bank (GFB) has to move its operations to the VFW in the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving in order to accommodate all of the donations received for the Thanksgiving basket program for residents in need. GFB, VFW Post 7666, American Legion, and Guilford Social Services run the program with assistance from Guilford Seniors Program and the Guilford Rotarians.
In North Haven, North Haven Congregational Church (NHCC) Office Manager Nancy Estep reports that the Food Pantry relies on the donations received through the ecumenical holiday basket program—in which NHCC and all town churches participate—in order to stock the shelves throughout the year.
And, back in East Haven, Parente's own generosity has already brightened the day of at least one person.
"I just had a woman on the phone who was by herself and requested a meal" be delivered on Thanksgiving Day. "I said, 'You don't need one meal; you need two or three...When you were a kid, you'd eat turkey all week long-you need two or three servings; you need to make a sandwich the next day'...[The woman] started crying. It just breaks my heart—she was so grateful."
For Parente, this is a season for gratitude, awareness, and giving.
"The reality of it is, as good as some people think they have it, there's always someone out there who needs help."