New London At the walk-up food distribution site at St. Mary’s Star of the Sea Church on Huntington Street, recipients on Friday collected prepackaged bags of canned goods and pasta, a 5 pound bag of potatoes, two bags of apples, a bag containing three or four pounds of frozen ground turkey, along with two or three bottles of juice and a half-gallon of milk.
“I haven’t used a food pantry in 15 years,” said Kasey Belair of Waterford. “I’m grateful for everything.”
Belair, whose hours were cut at Mohegan Sun Casino, said her husband is retired and her mother is disabled. Much of the food she received will be for her mother. Belair said she was surprised at the quality of the food in the distribution, especially the frozen ground turkey.
Groton Wearing a reindeer mask and antlers, Groton Human Services social worker Lisa Fredsbo handed out gift cards to residents and exchanged holiday greetings with them Tuesday morning as they stopped by the Human Services Building for the annual December holiday distribution.
As holiday music played, residents walked one at a time up the stairs to receive a gift card to a local grocery store for a holiday meal, as well as gift cards for toys for children, and a box of cookies and a calendar. They then walked out through a separate exit.
The annual distribution is being held despite the pandemic but with new protocols in place, including social distancing and mask-wearing, and gift cards instead of toys and food.