West Hartford Food Pantry Needs Your Help

During the summer months, donations to food pantries tend to slow down. Lloyd H. Bugbee Elementary School students are learning all about food insecurity —how some people don't know when or how they will get their next meal.

Coupled with that lesson, the students are participating in a Fill-A-Bus event starting at 9 a.m. Friday, June 6, at  1943 Asylum Ave. in West Hartford.

Donations were collected prior to the event, but people can still drop off donations at the school until 8:30 a.m. Friday, June 6.

The donations will help stock the West Hartford Food Pantry during the spring and summer months.

Students will fill the bus themselves Friday morning, and then the bus will be driven to the West Hartford Food Pantry at Town Hall.

"We have been engaging in conversations about how families in West Hartford sometimes need support with providing food and nutrition to their households," said Noam Sturm, Principal of Bugbee School. "We're so proud that our Bugbee students and our community are working to be part of the greater good by generously donating food to Fill-A-Bus."

The summer months can be stressful times for parents of children who enjoy cafeteria breakfasts and lunches throughout the school year.

"This means that parents must use their limited income to provide more meals for their children during this time," according to a press release from Stacy Silk Rome, on behalf of the school.

Suzanne Oslander, Community Partnerships Manager for the Department of Human and Leisure Services, is grateful for the support of the school and community.

"We are inspired by Bugbee’s community spirit,” she said.

The Town That Cares Food Pantry assists more than 700 households annually, Rome said.

Last year, more than 4,500 bags of food were distributed from the emergency pantry at Town Hall. Additional food was distributed at the Thanksgiving distribution and to several low-income senior housing and neighborhood sites in town. The Pantry relies on food and monetary donations from the community to assist the town’s most vulnerable residents. 

“As that expression goes, ‘hunger doesn't take a break’, and the whole Bugbee family is showing how much we care for our fellow residents by taking a leadership role in creating awareness, setting up Food Drive Stands, and helping to sort and load our bus — all wonderful ways to have them actively involved in understanding the needs that exist around us," Sturm said.