Winners of our Hungry Heart Raffle

$140 Cash, Jeff Castonguay

$100 Tavern Restaurant, Andy & Deb Labucki

$50 Southwick Florist, Olga Pyshnyak

Hungry Heart Raffle

Falcons Fundraiser

Please join the Westfield Food Pantry for a night out to see the Springfield Falcons vs. the Providence Bruins

 

January 12, 2013 at 7:00 p.m. 

Tickets are available for $15.00; a $3.00 discount! 

These are great seats, with most on the ice.   

There will be a jersey raffle held the night of the game. All proceeds will help us to serve our 850 monthly clients. 

 Purchase your tickets by January 7, 2013.   

 

Please call or email Rebecca at (413) 572- 0802, email: director@westfieldfoodpantry.org 

Holiday Meals

Our Community Food Pantry serving Southwick, Tolland and Granville is pleased to report the success of our Thanksgiving food drive.  With the help of our community we were able to distribute meals to 95 families.  Included in this meal were homemade pies made by the students and staff of Southwick-Tolland Regional High School, who baked a total of 118 pies, which allowed us to not only give them out for the Thanksgiving holiday, but also in the weeks after as a part of the usual monthly distribution. 

Now we are in our final push to supply meals for Christmas for the needy in our community.  Thanks to the generosity of our community, we are going into Christmas already having turkeys to distribute, but we’re still in need of these and other items.  We could also use canned veggies, potatoes, stuffing and boxed desserts.

Those looking for a little help getting a meal on the table for this upcoming holiday should sign up at the Our Community Food Pantry (220 College Hwy, Southwick, MA) by Monday, December 17^th so that we will be able to determine how much food we’ll be distributing.  Christmas meals will be distributed during regular business hours during the week of December 17^th – 20^th.

Please help out; a small donation can help make this a special Christmas for all.

THINK BEFORE YOU DONATE

SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT BEFORE YOU MAKE CONTRIBUTIONS:

As you open your pockets to do a good thing and make yourself feel good, please keep the following facts in mind.

The Salvation Army
Commissioner, Todd Bassett receives a small salary of only

$13,000 per year (plus housing) for managing this $2 billion dollar organization.

96 percent of donated dollars go to the cause.

The American Legion

National Commander receives a $0.00 zero salary. Your donations go to help Veterans and their families and youth!
The Veterans of Foreign Wars
National Commander receives a $0.00 zero salary.

Your donations go to help Veterans and their families and youth!
The Disabled American Veterans
National Commander receives a $0.00 zero salary.
Your donations go to help Veterans and their families and youth!
The Military Order of Purple Hearts
National Commander receives a $0.00 zero salary.
Your donations go to help Veterans and their families and youth!
The Vietnam Veterans AssociationNational Commander receives a $0.00 zero salary.

Your donations go to help Veterans and their families and youth!

Make a Wish: For children's last wishes.

100% goes to funding trips or special wishes for a dying child.
St. Jude Research Hospital

100% goes towards funding and helping Children with Cancer who have no insurance and can
not afford to pay.
Ronald McDonald Houses

All monies go to running the houses for parents who have critical Children in the hospital.

100% goes to housing, and feeding the families.

Lions Club International

100% OF DONATIONS GO TO HELP THE BLIND, BUY HEARING AIDES, SUPPORT MEDICAL MISSIONS AROUND THE WORLD.  THEIR LATEST UNDERTAKING

IS MEASLES VACCINATIONS (ONLY $1.00 PER SHOT).

The Spirit of Thanksgiving

Our Community Food Pantry, serving Southwick, Tolland and Granville, is getting ready for the upcoming holiday. This year we are incredibly thankful for the students and staff of Southwick-Tolland Regional High School who are helping in a great way. These local kids and adults are working hard to donate 80 homemade pies to add to the Thanksgiving meals that we are di stributing for this upcoming holiday.

In addition to the delicious pies being donated, we will also be distributing stuffing, cranberry sauce, veggies, gravy, other desserts and turkeys. We hope to have enough to help out all those in need, but we could use your help to make this a wonderful holiday for all.

Please think of your neighbors in need during this holiday season and donate some of the above items so that everyone can have a special holiday.

This year we are asking those needing some help with getting a meal for Thanksgiving to sign up at Our Community Food Pantry (220 College Hwy, Southwick, MA) by Thursday November 15th so that we will be able to determine how much food we’ll be distributing. Thank you and we hope that everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving.

 If you are looking to donate, we are open
Monday - 3-5
Tuesday 10-12
Wednesday 10-12
Thursday 5-6
We will also be collecting donations Saturday morning 11/17/12

If you are looking for help, please come to the pantry during our
 Hours of Operation:
Monday - 3-5
Tuesday 10-12
Wednesday 10-12
Thursday 5-6

Families need to sign up for Thanksgiving meals by Thursday 11/15/12

Meals will be distributed Tuesday 11/20 from 3-6pm.

Happy Halloween

 Some people can warm a cold day with a mere smile.  Some family's radiate life.    Marie and the Cigals are perfect examples.  A big, boisterous clan they are.  When they get together, they celebrate one another and welcome all to join in the fun.

30 years ago Marie's daughter spent a fall afternoon with her grandfather Clayton Sr. carving pumpkins.  They displayed them on his front step for all to see.  A year passed and another grandchild joined in the festivities and they needed a couple steps to show off their creations.  Three decades later four generations of  Cigal's show up for a weekend long party.  This year friends and family had 400 pumpkins to carve, including a couple over 200lbs.  They rose to the challenge and on nights leading up to Halloween, Clayton Sr's. yard is lit up with brightly colored jacks-o-lanterns of all sorts of shapes and sizes.

For years this labor of love has warmed the hearts of neighbors and town residents.  A simple sign requesting donations for the Our Community Food Pantry annually raises enough food and money to provide families in need with months worth of groceries.  Most of us think of All Hallows' Eve a holiday of consumption, to the Cigal's it is one for giving.