Norwich seeks help handing out food

Local agencies look for volunteers when city joins network next week

Norwich — Logistics are being worked out this week for the city to join the statewide weekly food distribution network established by the Connecticut Food Bank and Foodshare

starting next Monday at the former Foxwoods casino employee parking lot at 28 Stonington RoadRoute 2 in Norwich.

Mayor Peter Nystrom said Monday that officials from Food Bank, local coordinators for the distribution, Mashantucket Pequot tribal and Norwich police all walked the expansive vacant parking lot on Friday to work out logistics for the site and to prepare for next Monday’s first distribution.

Nystrom said local agencies coordinating the distribution are seeking about 40 volunteers to staff six to eight drive-thru stations to place different types of food into recipients’ vehicles. To volunteer, call Norwich Human Services at (860) 823-3778 or St. Vincent de Paul Place soup kitchen at (860) 889-7374.

“The worst thing that could happen is we’re understaffed,” Nystrom said. “And if we’re overstaffed, that’s fine, we can release some people.”

CT Food Bank and Foodshare have combined to sponsor weekly distribution sites across the state. Norwich, New London and Norwalk were added to what had been a statewide distribution at Rentschler Field in East Hartford.

New London weekly distributions are held Fridays from 2:30 to 4 p.m. at St. Mary’s Star of the Sea Church, 10 Huntington St. About 200 people received food at the distribution last Friday, Foodshare spokeswoman Monica Obrebski said. The New London site currently is a walkup site due to nearby construction but will be converted to a drive-thru site, she said.

The Norwich distributions start Jan. 25 and are scheduled to run from 9:30 a.m. to noon at the Route 2 parking lot, with 40,000 pounds of food to be distributed until it runs out. Cones and barriers will be set up to direct incoming traffic to the right and toward the rear of the lot.

Six to eight stations will be set up with pallets of different types of food — including fresh produce, bread, dairy and dry goods. Obrebski said the food items will vary week to week depending on what is available.

“Hunger doesn’t care where you live,” Jason Jakubowski, president and CEO of Foodshare, said last week in announcing the new sites. “And hunger is not contained to any one region here in Connecticut. By launching these additional drive-thru, COVID-conscious sites we are continuing to bring hope to the many Connecticut families affected by this pandemic.”

Recipients will be asked to open their rear side windows, rather than rear hatches or trunks, for quick and safe loading, Nystrom said. Drivers will remain in their vehicles, and everyone is asked to wear a mask. Organizers envision facilitating two lines of traffic, akin to having dual lines of people at a buffet table taking food from both sides.

Nystrom said volunteers are needed to place food into vehicles at each station and to move empty pallets out of the way. CT Food Bank and Foodshare will remove the empty pallets and clean the site at the end of the distribution, Nystrom said.

Norwich organizers will distribute fliers, both physically and online at various locations, to promote the Monday distributions, Nystrom said. He thanked Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Chairman Rodney Butler for agreeing to make the large parking lot available to avoid traffic backups on city streets.

“If someone is going to the one on Friday in New London,” Nystrom said, “we respectfully ask them not to come Monday to spread the food out.”