Submitted by Steve Denison, Liberty Bank.
The Liberty Bank/Rotary Club Thanksgiving drive is in its 17th year helping families in the local communities by raising money to put food on tables of those with needs. This year, more than others, has seen tremendous need within our community.
Since there isn’t a local rotary club, the Liberty Bank teams in Haddam and Higganum partnered with the Haddam Lions Club again to raise money for the Haddam Food Bank. The fund raiser ran from October 12th through November 21st, 2020. It consisted of branch customer donations in exchange for displaying their name on a paper turkey leg displayed in the branch and drive-up windows.
In addition to the money raised in the branch, the Higganum branch hosted the Haddam Lions Club who brought some furry animals to help them. On Saturday morning, November 21st, the Haddam Lions Club set up on the front lawn of the Higganum Plaza with two donkeys and some baby goats. The goal was to raise money and awareness for the need within the Haddam community, and to provide a fun surprise for patrons of the Higganum plaza. Kids and adults enjoyed petting the animals and seeing the baby goats. The animals were provided for the morning courtesy of Mary and Ted Krough from East Hampton Lions Club. It was a huge hit with people coming to the branch Saturday morning, and even attracted many people who were going to Jack’s for breakfast. In addition to branch contributions, the Haddam Lions Club made a sizable donation to the fund raiser to benefit the food bank.
When the fund raiser ended on November 21rd, the Liberty Bank Foundation contributed an additional $.25 per dollar raised. This ended up becoming a donation of over $600 from the Liberty Bank Foundation to add to the amount collected. All of these funds were added up and the Haddam Food Bank director, Jessica Condil was presented with a check for $3,021.63 to provide food for Haddam families. Our thanks go to all who helped out with this worthy endeavor.
The Haddam Lions will be offering another way for Haddam residents to help out by conducting their first-ever used shoe and coat drive in January. More information to come on this soon. The Haddam Food Bank provides food for many local families and is open to Haddam residents from 9:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m. Tuesday & Thursday and Monday & Wednesday by appointment.
Photo by Steve Denison.
