To assist the various residents of Greenwich who wrestle with meals insecurity, the city Division of Parks & Recreation held a meals drive to fill the cabinets within the pantry at Neighbor to Neighbor throughout this vacation season.
The drive ran from Dec. 1 by means of Dec. 20, with assortment bins arrange at division buildings. The division additionally held an internet drive to gather funds to purchase contemporary fruit and greens.
The division mentioned the meals drive was a “super success,” with packed donation bins and $870 raised for contemporary fruit and veggies, far above the aim of $500.
On Tuesday, Dec. 21, members of the Parks & Recreation Division took the donations of nonperishable objects — together with pasta, peanut butter and packages of cereal — to the non permanent location for the Neighbor to Neighbor pantry within the constructing within the Horseneck car parking zone throughout from the Boys & Ladies Membership.
“We’re excited to assist put a dent in meals insecurity in our neighborhood this vacation season,” the division mentioned in a press release.
The nonprofit Neighbor to Neighbor delivers meals to its residents in want all through city.
“Starvation and meals insecurity have an effect on many extra individuals in Greenwich than most of us notice,” Neighbor to Neighbor says on its web site. Greater than 20 p.c of city residents lack the earnings wanted to cowl primary requirements and 28 p.c of Greenwich Public Faculty college students qualify without cost or reduced-price lunches, the nonprofit says.
To make a donation to Neighbor to Neighbor, go to www.ntngreenwich.org/.
Pemberwick
Volunteers might be rolling up their sleeves and attending to work on Tuesday, Dec. 28, to cease invasive vegetation from spreading in Pemberwick Park.
When related conservation work was performed in one other part of the park final spring, many native pollinator-friendly vegetation had been discovered. One of the vital prevalent is the widespread milkweed, which is a supply of meals and shelter for monarch butterflies.
To advertise the native development of the native vegetation, volunteers will take away the invasive vegetation, together with the porcelain berry. This may give the pollinator-friendly vegetation the chance to get a head begin on rising within the spring.
Extra work to clear invasive vegetation might be performed in 2022 in Pemberwick Park.
The Pemberwick Glenville Affiliation, which is organizing the occasion, invited residents from all elements of city to assist. Volunteers ought to put on sturdy sneakers and gardening gloves, in addition to convey hand clippers and tarps to hold the vegetation away.
The city Parks and Recreation Division will present dumpsters to haul away the vegetation.
Volunteers will meet within the conservation space north of the car parking zone and playground. Use the doorway immediately throughout from Halock Drive.
For extra data, go to www.pemberwickglenville.com. Ship questions by way of e mail to Paul Curtis at [email protected].
Outdated Greenwich
One of many city’s best-known eating places has been working to guarantee that individuals on the town have sufficient to eat throughout this vacation season.
Backyard Catering, which has its flagship location in Outdated Greenwich, teamed with the Greenwich United Approach to offer vacation meals to households within the GUW’s Early Childhood Achievement Hole Options program.
The Carpenteri household, which owns Backyard Catering, has been doing such a charitable work for the reason that COVID-19 pandemic hit.
“At Backyard Catering, now we have at all times given again to the neighborhood. However in March 2020, my brother and I made a decision we wanted to do extra, and since then now we have donated over 110,000 meals,” mentioned Tina Carpenteri, who co-owns and manages Backyard Catering along with her father and brother.
“We’ve got partnered with organizations just like the Greenwich United Approach and varied meals pantries to effectively assist those that want it most,” she mentioned. “It feels so good to provide and particularly so through the vacation season. We’re proud to help ECAGS households and assist make their holidays a bit of brighter.”
The generosity was applauded by David Rabin, CEO of the Greenwich United Approach.
“We’re grateful to Backyard Catering for stepping in to make the vacations extra celebratory for the households in our ECAGS program, who’re working extremely exhausting to offer their kids with the very best training attainable,” Rabin mentioned. “Catering is beloved on this city for a lot of causes, however none extra so than their dedication to supporting their neighbors.”
The restaurant’s roots in Greenwich date to the Nineteen Seventies, when Backyard Poultry began on Greenwich Avenue. In 1978, the Outdated Greenwich location opened its doorways. After unique proprietor Lou Iandoli died, the Carpenteri household bought the enterprise and its secret recipes, reopening the placement in 1991.
There are actually eight Backyard Catering places, together with one on Hamilton Avenue in Chickahominy.
The ECAGS program works to slender the achievement hole amongst college students by means of house visits and preschool educational teaching to help 40 households earlier than their children begin kindergarten.
For extra data or to make a donation, go to https://greenwichunitedway.org/drive-to-425/.
Riverside
Riverside Faculty held its fourth annual Holidays for Haiti neighborhood service occasion, as native college students targeted on the wants of kids within the poverty-stricken nation.
The native college students had been matched up with greater than 350 kids at Danita’s Youngsters, a faculty in Haiti that educates college students from kindergarten by means of grade 13. The Riverside college students despatched playing cards with vacation greetings and their images to college students in Haiti.
Additionally, the Riverside Faculty neighborhood raised cash for backpacks and different college necessities for the Haitian kids. The funds additionally supported a celebration the place the Haitian college students acquired their playing cards and items.
“There may be an air of pleasure yearly on the college’s vacation occasion,” mentioned Karris Hudson, vice chairman of Danita’s Youngsters. “Our youngsters gentle up upon receiving their items and playing cards from the Riverside neighborhood. On a current meals supply, I seen one in every of these toy items hanging on a scholar’s wall inside their house.
“These items imply all the things to those kids who’ve so little, and the generosity of the Riverside neighborhood makes their holidays so shiny,” she mentioned.
Greater than $11,000 was raised within the November neighborhood service occasion. Funds additionally went to Danita’s Youngsters’s Malnutrition and Medical Middle, which supplies well being care to kids.
“Haiti is the poorest nation within the Western Hemisphere and has been overwhelmed by hardship, pure disasters and COVID-19,” Riverside Faculty principal Christopher Weiss mentioned. “Having our college students assist people who find themselves considerably extra challenged of their every day lives is a significant, precious lesson that can resonate with them for years to return.”
Holidays for Haiti was developed as a joint effort between the varsity and its PTA, that “goals to attach college students to communities in want and encourage a tradition of giving again.”
For extra data, go to https://riversidepta.membershiptoolkit.com/holidaysforhaiti.
