The hometown pride we see with Clinton Citizens is reflected in the generous donations by our businesses thriving throughout town.  We have been the honored recipient of gifts from several organizations and encourage the community to support them, as they have supported us.

Though, they do say it's better to give than receive - in this spirit FHF is proud to support other local orginizations and our first responders, all of whom proudly and tirelessly serve our community.

Farm Fresh Produce and Generousity Combine at Grove Gardens Landscaping

For the past several summers, Jill Hale and Gary Bousquet of Grove Gardens Landscaping grew and sold some of the freshest locally grown produce in front of their business on Boston Post Road.

In addition to providing the Shoreline with some of the best veggies around, all purchases from the stand were donated to Families Helping Families.  To add to that, Jill and Gary absorbed ALL of the costs from the produce to operations!

Mat Pelletier - Proving Awareness and Kindness Still Exists

This is not a Families Helping Families story this is a Clinton story. Local businessman Mat Pelletier (owner of Pelletier Construction Management) kept seeing the long line of cars waiting to get into the Clinton Food Pantry and knew he had to help. He called FHF and wanted to pay for the food we deliver to the Clinton Food Pantry for one month.

We spend about $4,500 to $5,000 a month on food for the Clinton Food Pantry. What did Mat do—He gave FHF a check for $5,000. His donation allowed us to purchase 6,133 pounds of fresh produce, non-perishable food items, and personal care items!!! Clinton is a town where people care about and share with others!

 

The overwhelming support of the Clinton Community continues to allow Families Helping Families to support its many projects and particularly the weekly contribution to the Clinton Pantry.

A huge thank you for a generous donation from The Clinton Lions Club and a matching grant from Liberty Bank that will go a long way to assist Families Helping Families reach its weekly goal of supplying food shipments to the Clinton Food Pantry. Families Helping Families currently delivers approximately 1,700 pounds of food each week to the pantry. Nearly 250 families each week have come to rely on the pantry for help during these most uncertain times.

Ugly Christmas Sweaters - More Than Just Fun at Liberty Bank!

Our friends at Liberty Bank held a spirited, branch-wide competition this past holiday season - an ugly Christmas sweater contest!  Aside from the given bragging rights of winners, the colleagues who donned the top three ugliest sweaters received checks from the bank to donate to the local charity of their choosing.

As it happens, Clinton resident and friendly face at our local Liberty Bank branch Jennette Escher took home third place!  Jeannette chose Families Helping Families as her charity - here she is, presenting FHF President Miner Vincent with her generous donation of $100.00.

Many thanks to Liberty Bank and Jennette... and congratulations on your win!

Because Every Kid Needs a Stuffed Animal

For the month of December the women of Spazzo's here in Clinton have been collecting stuffed animals. They collected an amazing amount of toys for Clinton families using the Clinton Food Pantry. Thank you for sharing with and caring about Clinton children and families.

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Round Up Take II For The Kids - Steward's Ace Hardware Does It Again!

Todd Steward of Steward's Ace Hardware presented a check to Clinton Police Departments Toys for Tots for a total of $2,825.00. The money will be used to buy the tweens and teens of Clinton gift cards to varies stores as they are often left out and forgotten by the common toy drives. The money was raised from November 18th through December 16th by rounding-up change at the end of a purchase. 5 cents here, 19 cents there. . .

Thanks to the Great Customers at Steward's Ace Hardware they raised $2559.01 and Todd Steward and Cherie Sears-Thompson at Steward's Ace Hardware matched it with a 10%+ donation of $265.99 for a total of $2,825.00. Pictured from left to right, Chief Vincent DeMaio (Clinton Police Department.) Miner Vincent and David Lee (from Families Helping Families) and Todd Steward (Steward's Ace Hardware).

Round Up - More Than a Weed Killer at Steward's Ace Hardware

Kim Steward of Steward's Ace Hardware presented a check to Clinton's very own Families Helping Families for a total of $2,575.00. The money was raised from October 21st through November 17th by rounding-up change at the end of a purchase. 5 cents here, 19 cents there. . .

Thanks to the Great Customers at Steward's Ace Hardware they raised $2,340.65 and Todd Steward and Cherie Sears-Thompson at Steward's Ace Hardware matched it with a 10%+ donation of $234.35 for a total of $2,575.00 (Pictured from left to right, Miner Vincent, (Families Helping Families,) Kim Steward (Steward's Ace Hardware).

A Full Thanksgiving Table for All!

Families Helping Families is so grateful  to the Clinton Lions Club and Kenyon International, a maker of ceramic glass cooktops and stainless steel electric grills located right here in Clinton, for joining with us in our second annual "Full Thanksgiving Table Effort."

Through this effort every family using the Clinton Food Pantry is given a Stop&Shop gift card which will enable them to purchase a turkey, potatoes, vegetable, stuffing, and a dessert.

Our goal is for each Clinton family to have a full table at Thanksgiving!

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Energy Audits - Helping Families Across More Than One Spectrum

Paul Gabauer, Chairman of Clinton’s Energy Committee, presented a check for $375 from New England Smart Energy to Families Helping Families President, Miner Vincent. NESE has committed through the Energy Committee to provide comprehensive energy audits to the citizens of Clinton.

As a give back, they have provided a donation to help families in need. Families Helping Families thanks everyone who received an audit and was able to save money on energy costs, and in doing so indirectly helping other friends, family or neighbors.

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Thankgving is a Giving of Thanks for All

This Thanksgiving Families Helping Families and The Clinton Lions Club joined together to provide a different type of Thanksgiving for all the families of the Shoreline Soup Kitchens and Food Pantries Clinton Food Pantry.

Both organizations pooled their resources and funded a groundbreaking program, The Full Thanksgiving Table Effort. Through this program, each family who shopped at the Clinton Food Pantry received a Stop&Shop gift card - this helped them purchase enough food to have a complete Thanksgiving dinner including a turkey and all the fixings. In the picture members of Families Helping Families and Clinton Lions Club present Lin Smith, Director of the Shoreline Soup Kitchens and Food Pantries.

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Big things are built from small but solid pieces

On Tuesday, November 20th, Todd Steward of Steward's Ace Hardware presented a check in the amount of $2,250 to Families Helping Families! This generous and sizeable donation was made up of seemingly small things - the valued customers of Steward's Ace Hardware rounding-up the change from their purchases which wound up at $2,043 with Todd and Cherie Sears-Thompson matching that round up total with a 10% donation of $207

So, that literal two cents donated when a $9.98 total went to $10.00 that "would never make a difference" sure did, when all those "small" pennies got together. In this season of being thankful, we at Families Helping Families are thankful for YOU - all of you in the town of Clinton that make Clinton a better place to live and work by caring for all in the community.

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Pictured from left to right, Todd Steward of Steward's Ace Hardware and David Lee, Miner Vincent, Police Chief Vincent DeMaio, Mari Lee, Jessica Demers, and Nancy Stone of Families Helping Families.

The Bigger Picture: Clinton's Non-Profit and Community Service Groups

As it can be easy to look at things in a single lens, the community service-centered groups have been coming together annually for the past two years at an event proudly hosted by Families Helping Families.

This year, Body Karma Studio kindly hosted this event which fostered cross-organization dialogue for all groups to better understand the community needs, cross-functional possibilities and plan for 2019 with a truly holistic view.  Speaking for all groups involved, we look forward to serving the community in the upcoming year and seeing all of you out and about!

Clinton Fire Department

The more-than-successful 2018 Sizzling Summer Round-Up gala was made the success that it was by the unwavering efforts of many individuals and the support of local organizations and businesses.

To show our appreciation to our first responders who were part of this team, FHF's Miner Vincent was proud to present a check in the amount of $6,000 the Clinton Fire Department; here he's pictured at the presentation with CFD's Chief, Brian Manware.

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 Funktion Fitness

Families Helping Families was recently awarded a grant of $750.00 from The Funktion Fitness Foundation. This grant will help is in our mission to provide assistance to families and children in the Clinton community who are dealing with some very difficult and unforeseen circumstances. Through our five community outreach programs we strive to serve all members of the Clinton community from the very youngest to senior citizens. Funktion Fitness operates two gyms: 141 West Main Street in Clinton and 210 Main Street in Old Saybrook.

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Ocean State Lob Lot

Families Helping Families was the proud and grateful recipient of an extremely generous $2,700.00 donation from our local Ocean State Job Lot store on June 19th! The Ocean State Job Lot Clinton location won a company-wide contest and was asked to choose a charity of their choice to donate proceeds to.

We were thrilled when the store team chose Families Helping Families to be the benefactor of this wonderful gift. We would like to extend a warm and heartfelt "Thank you!!!" to the entire Clinton Ocean State Job Lot crew - your generosity will ensure Families Helping Families is able to continue its mission of helping the people of Clinton through our five community-outreach programs. We appreciate you all and look forward to seeing you soon, in and out of the store!

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McDonald's in Clinton

A heartfelt "Thank You!" was extended by all of us at FHF on Tuesday, May 15th when Dick and Kathy Spero, owners of Clinton's McDonald's, presented us with a generous donation during their Grand Re-Opening Ceremony!