The 7th annual Food For Your Neighbors drive officially wrapped up on Wednesday, March 24, 2010, with 28,146 items collected for FISH, Friendly Hands Food Bank and the Salvation Army in Torrington, the Salvation Army Winsted Service Center in Winsted, and Fishes & Loaves in Canaan. Donations will still be accepted at the United Way office.

 Several organizations helped the United Way collect food in unique ways. Sullivan’s Northwest Hills Dealerships conducted a “Fill A Ram” campaign thanks to Sales Manager Steve Boswell, who realized that a lot of families need some extra help.

The Northwest CT Transit District’s Dial-A-Ride program promoted the food drive with posters and urged riders to bring donations to their bus.  Judy Motel of Sunset Meadow Vineyards in Goshen hosted a special “Ladies Night Out” on Friday, March 19 and raised $150 with a raffle to benefit the food drive.

Also, the Torrington Middle School was asking students to bring items to a dance that will be held on Friday, March 26.  Dymax Corporation held a can drive that collected over 2,000 lbs. or 1,676 cans, and rewarded their employees with a free breakfast.  Two other large contributors were the Torrington Christian Academy, with 1,756 items, Cub Scout Pack 27 of Winsted, with 1,111 cans, and Torrington Municipal & Teachers Federal Credit Union, with 958 items.

WQQQ, WZBG 97.3 FM , the Republican-American, and the Register Citizen again offered print and radio coverage, and Santoro’s Cleaners of Torrington promoted the program to all of their home and corporate customers and delivered food to the depot.

Food For Your Neighbors began in 2004 as a Community Impact project under the leadership of then President Richard R. Lavieri, Esq. It was decided to conduct the food drive in February, because that is traditionally a slow time for food donations and most food pantry shelves are depleted after the holiday season until the next major food drive, conducted by the U.S. Postal Service in May.

Since that time, participating schools, businesses, and individuals have contributed more than 138,419 items of food over its 7-year history.