Haddam, Killingworth Rotary Clubs Help Raise Record Food Basket Donations

For some local families, a Thanksgiving feast isn’t always possible due to unemployment or other economic factors.

But thanks to the 2015 Liberty Bank/Rotary Club Thanksgiving Dinner Drive, families living in Liberty Bank’s service area will benefit from $267,456 raised to supply that food—a record for the 12-year-old partnership between the bank and 34 local Rotary Clubs. The Groton Rotary Club accounted for $7,440 of that total, according to a prepared statement by Groton Discovery.

“In many towns where Liberty has branches, this drive has become the key mobilizer to meet the need for Thanksgiving food,” said Sue Murphy, executive director of the Liberty Bank Foundation and a member of the Middletown Rotary Club. “Thanks to our Rotary partners, it has taken on a life of its own. It’s a wonderful community collaboration.”

The funds were donated to Groton Human Services. In addition to the two clubs, Bailey Agencies in Groton has held dress down Fridays for the year and uses the funds raised to contribute towards this fund, making it an employee driven fundraiser every year.

Other businesses that contributed to the Thanksgiving Drive this year are Full of Spirit Package Store, Grover Insurance, Greater Mystic Chamber of Commerce, Sneakers Café, Cardinal Honda, Groton Republican Town Committee and Riverfront Children’s Center in Groton.

Thirty-four Rotary Clubs and the East Haddam Lions Club teamed up with the 48 Liberty Bank offices to raise $213,965 during the weeks after Columbus Day. At the end of the drive, the Liberty Bank Foundation added 25 cents for each dollar raised, totaling $53,491.

Rotarians either use the funds to purchase and deliver Thanksgiving food to needy families, or donate the money to a local nonprofit organization that provides Thanksgiving baskets. All donations are used to provide food in the communities where they were given.

Since it began in 2004, the Liberty Bank/Rotary Club Thanksgiving Dinner Drive has raised $1.4 million to supply holiday meals to residents of the towns served by the bank. Last year’s drive raised over $209,000, including almost $42,000 in matching funds from the Liberty Bank Foundation.

Liberty Bank branches participated in the fundraising by selling paper “turkey legs” to customers, and raised a portion of the total. The bank provided an incentive of free lunches to the staffs of the three branches that raised the most money through turkey leg sales.

The following Rotary Clubs participated in the 2015 Liberty Bank/Rotary Club Thanksgiving Dinner Drive:

• Branford
• Bristol
• Cheshire
• Chester
• Clinton
• Colchester
• Deep River
• East Haddam Lions Club
• East Hampton
• Glastonbury
• Groton
• Haddam/Killingworth
• Hamden
• Kensington/Berlin
• Madison
• Meriden
• Middletown
• Mystic
• New Britain/Berlin
• New Haven
• New London
• Newington
• Niantic
• North Haven
• Norwich
• Norwich Sunrise
• Old Saybrook
• Plainville
• Southington
• Stonington and North Stonington
• Wallingford
• Waterford
• West Hartford
• Wethersfield/Rocky Hill
• Willimantic