Neighborhood's Weekly Food Drive Surpasses 1,000 Bags

The "Griswold Grocers," consisting of families on Griswold Drive, have been collecting non-perishable items for the since October 2009. In February 2012 the neighborhood group passed the 1,000 mark in bags of groceries delivered since its inception.

“I can’t believe we actually got to 1,000 bags,” said Stuart Brown, who conceived of the idea to organize families on the street for a weekly food drive. “This has been such a group effort. You keep reading about how difficult it is for organizations to keep up with the demand by people in need, even in West Hartford. I thought this would be a small solution that also involved the neighborhood.”

Currently, the Griswold Grocers have 26 families on board. “Some people donate weekly, others once or twice a month,” Brown explained. “There is no commitment to participate every week or how many bags of groceries people have to donate. It’s whatever a family wants to do that particular week.”

“It's such a small thing to pick up a few extra grocery items each week and drop them off at a neighbor's house,” said Griswold Drive resident Elizabeth Vozzola. “It feels great to know our neighborhood is stepping up to help meet our fellow community members' most basic needs.”

These sentiments are echoed by Erin and Kevin Gentile. “After moving to our new home on Griswold Drive we received a flyer about joining Griswold Grocers,” they said. “We felt it would be a golden opportunity to help out our new community.”

According to Brown, there were two other reasons he began the group. “In addition to the concept of neighbors helping neighbors I thought this would be a simple way for people on the street to meet each other,” he said. “We live in such close proximity to families, but we don’t always know them. I’ve met so many of my neighbors through this effort.”

Kim Thomas, another member of the group, concurs. “This is so easy and effortless,” she said. “It helps you stay connected to the neighbors close to you.”

“It’s also a very modest way for parents to begin instilling the notion of community service with their children,” Brown continued. “It’s gratifying to see small kids lugging bags of groceries with their parents to that week’s drop-off point.”

Each week one of the Griswold Grocer households volunteers to serve as a delivery point for the non-perishable goods. At the end of the week that household delivers the groceries to the Town Hall Food Pantry.

“What’s satisfying about our efforts is it has sparked interest on other streets in town,” said Brown, a longtime Griswold Drive resident. “There are now at least half a dozen Griswold Grocer-type drives going on.”

Last year a number of interested people got together with Brown to create a website, www.Food4WH.org, to serve as a clearinghouse for people interested in starting a street-wide food drive. “There is a lot of information as well as a listing of streets and neighborhoods already participating,” he said.

Shea Kinney, along with her friend Annette Spillane, not only organized her street, but a number of streets in her area. "We call our group the 'H' Street Grocers," she said. "It encompasses Birch, Bainbridge, Chelsea, Walbridge and Steele (from Fern to Asylum). On a map the center of the area resembles the capital letter ‘H.’ It was so easy to organize our neighborhood. Sometimes it takes just one person to send the flyer and next thing you know, you have people scheduled to deliver groceries for the next four months.”

If anyone is interested in organizing their street they can go to the Food4WH.org website or email Stuart Brown directly at Broadway99@comcast.net.

This information was provided by the "Griswold Grocers."