|
Hungry People in Litchfield County
By Chris Garlasco, Lakeville
Did you know that in just four towns in the Northwest Corner over 500 families depend on our local food banks? How can this be? This is Litchfield County, one of the most affluent counties in Connecticut. There are no large cities. No slums to speak of. We have covered bridges and waterfalls, farms and hilltop estates. Why is the number of families needing assistance on the rise? I have not even included the number of people who depend on our area soup kitchens!
There are many reasons why we face this challenge here in our hometowns. There are many who are living on fixed incomes. We have others who are dealing with addiction and other health problems. There are many who are working and still cannot keep up with the rising cost of living in the county.
Just do the simple math and it is easy to see why we have this problem. Rents are averaging around $550 per month in the area. Assume that a person in the unskilled labor force is earning—at $9 per hour—$360 per week. Once taxes, including state, federal, Social Security and Medicare are taken out, $282 remains. Paying the rent requires almost two full weeks’ pay; the other two weeks must cover food, utilities, clothing and insurance. Add the cost of day care, and this situation becomes impossible.
This is a lean time of year for our food banks. Last year, Wagner McNeil Insurance in Lakeville, together with Dressel Buonocore Insurance in Torrington and radio stations WZBG and WQQQ, embarked on the annual Full Harvest Food Drive. With your help, we raised 9,600 pounds of non-perishable food items. Unfortunately, all the food that was raised in September was gone before Thanksgiving. We come to you again this year in hopes that you will open your heart and your cupboard for those in need here in northern Litchfield County. For the price of a cup of coffee, you can make a difference in someone's life. The drive runs the entire month of September.
Drop locations include: in Torrington—Dressel Buonocore Insurance, all the Torrington Savings Bank locations, Price Chopper and Price Rite; Winsted—Stop & Shop and Winsted Tire and Auto; Canaan—Stop & Shop and Canaan Market; Litchfield—Stop & Shop and WZBG; Salisbury/ Lakeville—Wagner McNeil Insurance, WQQQ, Salisbury Pharmacy, Salisbury Bank and Trust, and LaBonne’s Market; and Sharon—Sharon Insurance and Sharon Hospital. For more info call Wagner McNeil Insurance at 860-435-2507. Thank you.
|
|
