Rotary Clubs from Stratford, Devon, Milford, New Haven, Orange, and West Haven all came together on Saturday morning to pack over 215 boxes containing 36 packs of food, equaling 46,440 meals, to be distributed to our local foodbanks. Each pack of food will feed a family of 6, after adding water and microwaving the shelf stable packs. The packaged meals met the highest standard of FDA nutrition, and their ease of preparing was designed to so that children would be able to make them.
Stratford organizations that received boxes of food were Sterling House, the South End Community Center, St. James, Friendship Church and Covenant Life Ministries.
210 Rotarians joined friends and family to man the packing lines.
The meal options were:
Raisin Cinnamon Oatmeal
Spanish Rice
Deluxe Macaroni & Cheese
Minestrone Soup
Rice and Beans
The food packing was staged at the Milford Senior Center, with the Milford Bank stepping up to the plate to sponsor the event.
The Rotarians raised over $18,860 to purchase these meals, each of which cost $2.40 from the Outreach Program, a non-profit wholesale program where organizations are able to purchase ingredients, equipment, bags and boxes by pallet or truckload quantities. Matthew Martin from the Outreach Program New England (MA, CT, RI, VT, NH, & ME) attended, and kept the lines moving and encouraged all participants.
If you couldn’t make it to this food packing event, keep reading the Stratford Crier, as we will post a notice for the next event, where we hope you join us.
