The Citizens Bank Foundation recently granted $10,000 to the Gemma E. Moran United Way/Labor Food Center to support the expansion of the region’s only Mobile Food Pantry program. 
Currently serving nine towns in Eastern Connecticut, the Mobile Food Pantry initiative was launched to meet gaps in the area’s emergency food distribution network and to provide low-income populations access to fresh, perishable food in order to help reduce chronic, diet-related health conditions.
Since 1988, the New London-based Gemma E. Moran United Way/Labor Food Center has dedicated itself to fighting hunger in a region where more than 19,000 individuals live below poverty level. Each year, it distributes more than two million pounds of donated, surplus food to 96 pantries, soup kitchens, shelters and organizations. With support from the Citizens Bank Foundation, the Food Center hopes to have 12 feeding sites in 2014. The grant is part of Citizens Helping Citizens Fight Hunger, the bank’s program that supports innovative programs and organizations to provide access to nutritious food.
