Page 5 - DEC2020

December 2020
Newfound Lake Life
dropping off food or money, but they’ve also been going online to Amazon MarketPlace to buy on the list and have them shipped directly to the community center. It’s been really amazing,” she said.
Among the foods requested are microwavable servings of Chef BoyRDee and Dinty Moore lunch items along with boxes and/or single serving size packages of macaroni and cheese, as well as oatmeal and Cheerios packets for
Page 5 by not only the police but a small
team of dedicated volunteers. All donations to help children in need are greatly appreciated, Henry said.
Due to the hybrid and remote learning schedules the area schools are currently operating under, logistics for the weekly food distri- bution are still being finalized but the officers hope to have the pro- gram up and running in the very near future.
Every Child Is Ours
breakfast Among the snack re- quests are CheezIts and Goldfish single serving packets, along with Scooby Snacks, Fiber One and Belvita Bars, and microwavable pouches of popcorn. A complete list of items being sought by the Newfound ECIO organization can be seen here in this paper, while more information can also be found online at nhecio.com.
Every Child Is Ours is a non- profit organization headed locally
By Donna rhoDes
This fall Bristol Police teamed up with other area police de- partments as well as the Tapply Thompson Community Center to promote their newest endeavor, Every Child is Ours, a nationally formed organization intended to make sure children have sufficient food to eat over the weekends when they are not receiving lunch at school.
Every Child is Ours was begun with the help and guidance of Jan Pascal, a Meredith, N.H. resident who was asked in the late 1990s by then-president Bill Clinton to help find a solution to childhood hunger. In 2014 Pascal presented the program to the Winnisquam School District and volunteers
Hannaford’s Grocery Store last month, the officers have been collecting food items identified to be healthy through the national Every Child is Ours organization. Henry said that children who re- ceive free or subsidized lunches through their schools are recom- mended to the program and then provided with bags of lunch and snack foods each Friday.
“A lot of families are struggling to make ends meet right now and Every Child is Ours helps get them through the weekend when the kids aren’t getting lunch in school,” he explained.
Local residents, Henry and BPD Chief James McIntire noted, have been eager to help the new ECIO program when
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Kicking off a food drive for the new Every Child Is Ours weekend nutrition program in the Newfound Region last month, Bristol Police Chief James McIntire (far left) and Officer Steve Henry (far right) were joined by Chuck and Lisa Drew of Tilton who have headed up the Winnisquam Regional School District’s ECIO program since 2014. PHOTO BY DONNA RHODES
Chuck and Lisa Drew jumped onboard to lead the first-in-the- state branch of ECIO.
Since that date, they have helped provide weekend lunches and snacks for students in Til- ton, Sanbornton and Northfield. When they learned this year that Bristol Police and their local part- ners wanted to form the second ECIO program in the state, the couple came forward to lend sup- port and guidance about the pro- gram.
After several years with the Tilton Police Dept. and the N.H. Drug Task Force, Officer Steve Henry joined the Bristol Police Department this past February and signed on to head the ECIO program for local youth. He was pleased to find that neighboring law enforcement agencies within Newfound Area School District were eager to help support the program, too. Among those are Alexandria, Bridgewater, Dan- bury, Hill and New Hampton po- lice departments.
they learned what it is all about. The first food drive in November was a big success they two agreed, bringing in large donations of many of the nonperishable food items on their list.
Through Chuck and Lisa Drew, Henry and McIntire also learned that in Winnisquam the ECIO volunteers have even at- tracted the interest of older resi- dents at the Tilton Senior Center who have pitched in to help bag up the weekend lunches over the past six years.
“I think that’s a great way we can get our own senior citizens in- volved with the kids here in New- found, too,” said Henry.
Since that first food drive, TTCC has taken over collecting money and food items for the officers at the centrally located community center in Bristol. Ex- ecutive Director Leslie Dion said donations have been pouring in already and she is thrilled that it will all benefit local school-aged kids in the community.
Beginning with a food drive at
“People have been not only