SOMERS — The Somers Women’s Club is hosting a food drive on Sept. 28 at Geissler’s Supermarket in Somers, 95 South Rd., from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. to collect canned goods, cash donations and non-perishable food items to benefit Champs Place, the Somers Community Food Pantry, located at Somers Congregational Church, 599 Main St.
President Mary Sersanti of the Somers Women’s Club said, “We hope to get a large donation of food for the pantry. We want to help our community and the people in it the best way we can.”
The Somers Women’s Club has been around for 100 years, and the heart of the club is community service. The club hosted the food drive for the first time last year and began doing it because they are affiliated with the General Federation of Women’s Clubs, or GFWC, an international women’s organization dedicated to community improvement through volunteer service.
This food drive is the club’s way of participating in the GFWC’s National Day of Service, spotlighting an area of need in communities across the nation and around the world to bring about positive change with this year’s theme of food insecurity and hunger.
Somers Women’s Club member Sharon Newcity has been volunteering at Champs Place for eight years and thought the club should try to organize a food drive for them.
Champs Place is in need of pasta, pasta sauce in plastic jars, soup — tomato, chicken noodle, cream of mushroom and cream of chicken — baked beans, canned tuna, canned chicken, cereal, juice boxes, peanut butter, black tea, decaf tea, canned fruit and instant oatmeal.
Newcity said, “The club’s goal is to collect food and non-food items for Somers residents who use the resources of the food pantry. Money donations will also be accepted which allow for the purchase of items that cannot be obtained from Foodshare.”
She went on to say, “The food drive collects necessary items to support community members who qualify for the pantry’s services. The approximately 65 families that are served monthly by the pantry are recipients of generous donations from individuals in town, civic and community organizations, businesses and government agencies. Without these generous donations, the food pantry would not be able to carry out its important mission to provide provisions to the residents of the community, and to strive to eliminate hunger.”
Sersanti added, “It’s important to raise awareness about food insecurity and hunger and providing the people of the community with the food that they need. We enjoy getting together and doing these community service projects and having a good time while we do it.”
For questions, contact the Somers Women’s Club at somerswomensclubct@gmail.com.
Champs Place is open on Monday mornings from 10 a.m. to noon, and Monday evenings from 6-7 p.m.
