Page 15 - NOV2023

November 2023 NEWFOUNDLAKELIFE.COM Page 15
Community
The Tapply-Thompson Com- munity Center serves over 1,150 people every year in the eight towns that make up our service area. We serve the towns of Al- exandria, Bridgewater, Bristol, Danbury, Groton, Hebron, Hill, and New Hampton. Our Every Child is Ours Weekend Food Sup- plement Program served over 125 youth every week in 2022, as our Operation Warm Winter Cloth- ing Drive provided 137 youths with coats, hats, mittens, and snow pants for 2022. We house hun- dreds of kids in our after-school programs every day, and our sum- mer and vacation camps are the most affordable in the region, with no one ever turned away due to inability to pay.
Our food items list for Every Child is Ours reflects a deep in- clusion of fruits, grains, and whole foods and does not include overly processed or sugary foods. We try to balance the bags distributed as providing a meal and other foods that will have nutritional integrity, as we also provide a place for phys- ical activity, as our participants have a wide array of activities to choose from in pursuing an active lifestyle.
As we combine education and self-reliance with the food items distributed, we hope to instill a positive exchange that will help students meet their most basic needs. We hope to also foster a healthy approach to eating and nutrition as a major goal of this program.
Collaboration has been the key component to the success of this project. Beginning with our initial partnership with the Bristol Police Department, we now enjoy assis- tance from Newfound Regional High School (NRHS) and our two local Walmart stores in Tilton and Plymouth, NH. The 22 and Under program from NRHS helps to load the bags every week, as the Plymouth and Tilton Wal-marts have donated either cash or food items to the program for 2023.
The Bristol Police Department (BPD) continues to be our Major Partner and is crucial to the sus- tainability of this program, and hosts periodic ‘Cram the Cruiser’ events, where food is donated at local supermarkets and placed in police cruisers until they are fully packed. We have enjoyed a won-
derful partnership with the BPD and will continue our work to- gether into perpetuity.
We have recently received grant funding for the Every Child is Ours program from Speare Me- morial Hospital and for the Every Child is Ours and Operation Warm programs from the Bank of NH. We are so thankful for our wonderful community partners, Thank you!
Operation Warm is a collab- oration of the Tapply-Thomp- son Community Center, Bristol Community Services, and the Bristol Fire Department with as- sistance from the Santa Fund of the Greater Lakes Region. This program has been partially funded by the Greater Lakes Region Chil-
dren’s Charitable Fund for Chil- dren.
2023 Operation Warm Ap- plication! Must pre-order to get items! Please fill out the applica- tion & return it to TTCC or the School Nurse.
Pick Up Dates: 11/4 from 8-10am downstairs @ TTCC (no appointment necessary) PLEASE CONTACT THE TTCC if you are in need of coats, boots, and/ or snow pants for your kids for this winter!! Coats, snow pants, boots,
and a limited amount of hats & mittens are available. We can only provide boots & snow-pants to Ele- mentary & Below. We do not have sizes for toddlers or babies.
After the deadline, items will be disbursed if available.
Operation Warmth & Every Child Is Ours