How You Can Help Others

We encourage anyone interested in supporting our community’s COVID-19 food assistance response to help in any way they can. Thank you!

1. DONATE

• Donate to the Danbury Food Collaborative to help support this network of food pantries, congregate meal providers and related food system agencies and partners who work together to serve our community’s most vulnerable, food-insecure residents. Or check out the Guide to Accessing Food in Danbury for a list of agencies providing emergency relief that you may contact directly. Also see: Guía Para obtener comida en Danbury. | Guia de Comida para Danbury.
• Donate to the ALICE Emergency Fund of United Way of Western Connecticut. This fund will expand the ability of individuals and families to purchase fresh produce through our Healthy Savings Program. Participants in the program will receive $20 of fresh produce for free each week for six weeks at participating grocery stores, with the flexibility to extend depending on the availability of funds.
• Donate to the Connecticut United Ways COVID-19 Response Fund. United Ways across the state have created this fund to rapidly deploy financial resources to individuals and families economically affected by the pandemic.
• Provide financial support and/or supplies to local pantries and agencies.
• Contact organizations for specific needs, including unused grocery bags, sanitizing equipment, hand sanitizer, and gloves.
• Contact Food Rescue Us to donate surplus food or volunteer to deliver surplus food (food prepared in a licensed kitchen, that has not been served to the public).

2. VOLUNTEER

Contact locations directly for volunteering information or visit our Get Connected portal which is being updated with volunteer and agency needs.

3. SUPPORT YOUR NEIGHBORS

• Call neighbors, particularly those who are limiting public interaction or might already experience isolation, such as seniors and housebound individuals, to check on their food supplies and offer to pick up groceries or supplies if needed. Take precaution to protect your and the recipient’s health when delivering to someone’s home, plan to stand six feet away from the door.
• Follow usual food safety guidelines when preparing food for others, including (courtesy of the Community Food Rescue Food Safety guidelines):
  • If you are sick, or starting to feel unwell, do not prepare food for, or serve food to, others. If someone else in your household is sick, avoid taking food to people outside your home.
  • Wear a waterproof bandage if you have a cut.
  • Wash hands and exposed arms up to your elbows with warm water and soap before handling food.
  • Wash hands again if you do any of the following: use the restroom, smoke, touch your hair, face, clothes or body, blow your nose, sneeze, cough, handle raw meat or eggs, touch your cellphone or other device, eat or drink, or use cleaning chemicals.
  • Do not eat, drink, smoke, or chew gum near exposed food.