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Belchertown CAN! Food Drive Adding Cash Collection
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Saturday,
January 22, 2011
In addition to challenging area residents to create a “mountain of food” during its third annual food drive, Belchertown CAN! (Community Aid Network) is placing empty paint cans in more than 30 local businesses to solicit cash donations for local food pantries.
Why collect money as part of a food drive? “We’ve learned that a dollar at the Western Mass Food Bank is worth nearly nine times what it is at a grocery store,” said Jan Caswell, who is coordinating the monetary collection. “The cash gives the food pantries a lot of buying power.”
The paint cans will be in local businesses and at the Clapp Memorial Library from Jan. 21 to 29.
And as it did last year, the Can and Bottle Redemption Center behind Checkers will allow people to contribute the proceeds from their recyclables to the food drive.
For this year’s “Community Give-in” volunteers will collect non-perishable goods on Sunday, Jan. 23 and Saturday, Jan. 29 at Stop & Shop, 45 Federal St.; Checkers General Store, 33 State St., and Dwight Station Mini Mart, 1066 Federal St. Items needed include food in non-glass packaging, paper products, and pet food.
On Jan. 29 volunteers will also be at Lawrence Memorial Hall, where people can drop off donations from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Refreshments will be served.
The Belchertown schools also will participate, encouraging teachers and students to bring in goods. A Healing Touch Therapeutic Massage, which normally has a food drive during the holidays, instead is going to partner with Belchertown CAN! this year.
“We hope to match the four tons of food we collected at last year’s event,” said Cliff McCarthy, a CAN! volunteer. That was up from three tons in 2009.
All proceeds from the drive will go to the three Belchertown food pantries, located at the United Church of Christ, St. Francis Roman Catholic Church and Dwight Chapel, and to the Amherst Survival Center, which serves many Belchertown residents.
The three local pantries also have been beneficiaries of an ongoing drive sponsored by Stop & Shop. CAN! members empty two large bins at the front of the store several times a month, said Bob Livingston, another volunteer. In recent months, shoppers have deposited more than 200 pounds of food a month, he said, and more than 400 pounds in December. Each month the collected items go to one of the three local pantries.
“The need is year-round, not just during the holidays,” said Bob Haryasz, Stop & Shop perishables manager, explaining why the store decided to extend the drive throughout the year. “People even bring in things they didn’t buy here—but that’s okay. It’s a food drive.”
Belchertown CAN! is a nonpartisan group of individuals and businesses that formed in December 2008 in response to a national call for public service. It is not affiliated with any political or religious organization.
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