MIDDLETOWN, CT -- As the Thanksgiving holiday approaches, many Connecticut families will be looking for help to enable them to sit down to a traditional holiday feast. Liberty Bank and 39 local Rotary Clubs plus the East Haddam Community Lions Club are teaming up to make sure that everyone in central, eastern, and shoreline Connecticut can enjoy a bountiful Thanksgiving meal.
From now until November 18, Liberty’s 55 branch offices will accept donations to local Rotary Clubs for the purpose of providing Thanksgiving food. Every dollar donated at a Liberty office will be matched with 25 cents from the Liberty Bank Foundation. On November 20, the Rotary Clubs will withdraw the funds and either purchase and deliver food for local needy families, or donate the funds to a local human services agency that provides Thanksgiving food.
Since it began in 2004, the Liberty Bank/Rotary Club Thanksgiving Dinner Drive has raised over $1.7 million to supply holiday meals to residents of the towns served by the bank. Last year’s drive raised a record $281,808. More than $56,000 of that total came from matching funds from the Liberty Bank Foundation. This year, the total fundraising goal is $325,000.
“The Thanksgiving feast is an American tradition, and our goal is to enable all of our neighbors to participate in it this year,” said Sue Murphy, executive director of the Liberty Bank Foundation.
In addition to the East Haddam Community Lions Club, the following Rotary Clubs are participating in the 2017 Liberty Bank/Rotary Club Thanksgiving Dinner Drive: Ansonia, Beacon Falls, Branford, Bristol, Cheshire, Chester, Clinton, Colchester, Deep River, Derby/Shelton, East Hampton, Essex, Groton/Ledyard, Hamden, Kensington/Berlin, Madison, Meriden, Middletown, Mystic, Naugatuck, New Britain/Berlin, New Haven, New London, Newington, Niantic, North Haven, Norwich, Old Saybrook, Plainville, Seymour/Oxford, Southington, Stonington, Tribury of Woodbury/Southbury/Middlebury, Wallingford, Waterbury, Waterford, West Hartford, Wethersfield/Rocky Hill, and Willimantic. Each Liberty Bank office will collect contributions for its local Rotary, so the funds will remain in the communities where they were donated.
The Liberty Bank/Rotary Club Thanksgiving Dinner Drive was first conceived by the Middletown Rotary Club, which for several years conducted its own fundraising drive to provide food for needy families on Thanksgiving. In 2004, the club approached Liberty to see if the bank would be interested in a partnership to enlarge the drive. The bank responded that it would support the drive if it could be expanded throughout its entire service area. Members of the Middletown Rotary reached out to fellow Rotarians in other towns, with the result that 39 clubs are now involved, covering every town where Liberty has an office.
Rotary is a global network of more than 1.2 million volunteer leaders who dedicate their time and talent to tackle the world’s most pressing humanitarian challenges. There are 34,000 Rotary clubs in more than 200 countries and geographical areas. Clubs are nonpolitical, nonreligious, and open to all cultures, races, and creeds. Their work impacts lives at both the local and international levels, from helping families in need in their own communities to working toward a polio‐free world. As signified by the motto “Service Above Self,” Rotary’s main objective is service — in the community, in the workplace, and throughout the world.
Since its inception in 1997, the Liberty Bank Foundation has awarded over $10.7 million in grants to nonprofit organizations within Liberty Bank’s market area. The foundation seeks to improve the quality of life for people of low or moderate income by investing in three areas: education to promote economic success for children and families; affordable housing; and nonprofit capacity building. Along with its grantmaking, the foundation strives to foster the convening and collaboration of nonprofits, funders, business, and government to address community issues. Established in 1825, Liberty Bank is Connecticut’s oldest bank, with more than $4.7 billion in assets and 55 banking offices throughout the central, eastern, and shoreline areas of the state. As a full‐ service financial institution, Liberty offers consumer and commercial banking, home mortgages, insurance, and investment services. Liberty maintains a longstanding commitment to superior personal service and unparalleled community involvement.
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Contact:
Sue Murphy
Liberty Bank Foundation
860-638‐2959
smurphy@liberty‐bank.com
Website: www.libertybankfoundation.org