Harvest House Food Drive off to a Great Start
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Harvest House II, the 12th annual Valley United Way Corporate Volunteer Council’s Week of Caring is off the planning table and soon to become a reality thanks to Pitney Bowes kicking it off!
On Friday, August 31, 2007 when most people were taking advantage of the Labor Day long weekend, Anne Wege from Pitney Bowes was at Stop and Shop on the shipping dock in Shelton directing where 6 completely packed pallets worth $8,605.20 of food. Anne was the master planner in the organization of what food to purchase, in what number and how to use couplons and store specials to maximize the effort. She is truly a legend.
The food was placed on a flat bed truck driven by Karl Mannix from Housatonic Lumber. Karl drove this valuable cargo to a great location - Town Line Storage in Derby. The storage unit was donated by Laurel Vicidomino VUW’s Director of Resource Development as well as Vice President of Town Line Storage. Laurel came to the rescue by offering the storage unit to safely hold the 4,484 items which include 612 boxes of cereal until September 29th when they will be used to begin building Harvest House II.
Lynn Miller, Vice President of Housatonic Lumber and Valley UW Bd member also came to the rescue when she responded yes to helping us move the food by donating a Housatonic Lumber truck and Karl Mannix to drive the truck. Karl faced some challenges when the load of food shifted a little. Karl got the truck back to the loading dock and Stop and Shop’s Grocery Manager, Doug Plude, helped with restacking. The truck was ready to begin its ride to Derby. The Town Wide Storage staff greeted Karl and offered help in any way they could
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The 2005 building of Harvest House I was truly a community coming together to help people in need. Valley companies, churches, schools, scouts and individuals both young and old gave food and time to help their neighbors. A total of 100,000 boxes and cans of food. Harvest House II has all the makings for another amazing example of how the Valley reaches out and cares for one another.
Some people say that a Community can be defined as a collection of stories… we are beginning another incredible story of the Valley community caring for one another in an amazing way
