This Group's Goal Is to Stop Hunger in New London County

A coalition of community agencies gathered Monday afternoon amid mounds of canned vegetables and stacks of carrots in the heart of the Gemma E. Moran United Way Labor Food Center to announce the ambitious goal to end hunger in New London County. 

“We cannot take food for granted," said Virginia Mason, president of United Way Southeastern Connecticut. "Food insecurity is a reality in our region. There are hungry children in the wealthiest parts of our region.” 

Kathleen Doherty-Peck, director of the Social Services Department for Montville, says the town's food bank, clothing bank and hygiene bank are always busy, and now, more than ever.

More than 100 families use the food bank weekly, Doherty-Peck said on Tuesday, and even more use it on a monthly basis. The food bank offers canned and boxed food, and has freezers it stocks with protein, when it has the money. A donation of nearly $7,000 from the Uncasville Stop & Shop will help restock the freezers, Doherty-Peck says. (To read that story, click ).

The Montville Food Bank is located in the Social Services Department, the small white house between the new and old town halls. It's open Tuesday-Friday, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. for walk-ins, or you can call Doherty-Peck at 860-848-0422 to make an appointment.

The only requirement is that you are a Montville resident, Doherty-Peck said. There are no income requirements.

"Before the past couple years," Doherty-Peck said, I had a lot of dual income families that, after you pay the mortgage or the rent, the car, the bills, you just don't have that extra money. And it's more now."

Childhood poverty and its seemingly contradictory corollary, childhood obesity, are the major focus of the newly launched New London County Food Policy Council, which was prompted by two independent community needs assessments conducted by Backus Hospital and Lawrence and Memorial Hospital in 2010. 

The Backus Hospital survey found that out of 1,100 adults surveyed in New London County, 68.6 percent were overweight or obese. That percentage is a bit more than the state’s obesity rate, 63 percent, and far above the national rate of 59.6 percent, according to Keith Fontaine, a Backus Hospital vice president. 

“It’s a major focus, it’s what drove us to partner with the United Way,” Fontaine said. “We wanted to get into the schools and down into the homes where the food is prepared, and then you’re taking it beyond what a hospital can do.” 

The food policy council is the first of its kind in the region and aims to address the weaknesses in the county’s food system, such as the difficulties of learning to choose nutritious foods and difficulty accessing healthful foods and planning menu. It will undertake issues beyond food choice and preparation, according to Michael O’Farrell, a Lawrence and Memorial spokesperson.

“We’re going to hear about obesity, we’re going to hear about addiction,” he said. “But this is just the first splash, there will be other things we can hang our hat on.” 

The first steps to eating healthful food is having access to grocery stores or food centers with fresh food, which many people in New London county don’t have, according to the United Way Needs Assessment. 

Gemma Moran, founder of the food center of the same name, was seeing a dream come true.

“I’m very emotional today,” said the 86-year-old retiree, “I started this place with a $5,000 grant and today we have 90 programs and distribution sites.” 

Rep. Joe Courtney, who is on the Agricultural Committee, was there to thank the organizing members for forming a food policy council and said he was looking forward to working with them. 

The council is compsed of representatives from the United Way, the Thames Valley Council on Community Action, Norwich Human Services, Backus and Lawrence and Memorial hospitals, Southeastern Mental Health Authority and the Gemma E. Moran United Way Labor Food Center. Montville Social Services is a member of the Gemma E. Moran food center.