Who? Tom D'Addario, president of D’Addario Auto Group and advisor to the D'Addario Family Fund at the Valley Community Foundation got into the holiday spirit by inspiring his employees to help raise funds to purchase food for the five Valley Food Pantries. Tom learned of TEAM’s program which maximizes food purchases for the pantries from VCF. D’Addario Buick/GMC of Shelton and the D’Addario Family Fund matched all donations made by employees and were able to donate $3,272 to TEAM’s sustainable and healthy food relief efforts in the Valley.
Every dollar donated by D’Addario is used to purchase healthy foods made available to almost 2,000 Valley residents accessing local pantries throughout the communities of Ansonia, Derby, Oxford, Seymour, and Shelton.
“We are proud to be able to present these funds to TEAM, as we know that every dollar is spent on healthy, nutritious food going to families here in the Valley. We are grateful to our employees for stepping up and helping neighbors in need, and it is our pleasure to assist TEAM in this amazing initiative,” said Tom D’Addario.
Over the last year alone and amidst the pandemic, TEAM distributed 93,511 pounds of healthy foods via this emergent/piloted Bozzutos food distribution project – this equates to approximately 77,926 meals (1.2 pounds = 1 meal). TEAM is a nonprofit human services agency serving the Greater Valley & surrounding region (www.teaminc.org)
What? TEAM successfully leveraged a generous purchasing relationship with Bozzuto’s Inc, a Cheshire/Connecticut-based wholesale distributor of food & household goods to retailers throughout New England and beyond. On average, every food item order with Bozzuto’s is 25% less in cost than average retail which allows TEAM to stretch the generous dollar so much further in order to help people experiencing food hardship. As the world we’re all swimming through experiences the increasing costs of food and other realities of inflation amidst the growing numbers of food insecurity and poverty data in our Valley, this work brings to light the immense impact of meaningful partnerships and the amazing compassion & generosity of D’Addario Buick/GMC of Shelton.
Why? The more that TEAM can develop a convergence of donor support and meaningful partnerships through TEAM’s Bozzuto’s initiative, the more food we can get on the shelves of the diverse food-relief settings and ultimately to our most vulnerable residents in the Valley region.
This is a press release from TEAM.
