Westports Homes With Hope Food Pantry Gets Major Boost

WESTPORT, Conn. – The event may now be a distant memory for some, but last September’s Slice of Saugatuck Festival is still fresh in the minds of those at the Westport-based nonprofit Homes With Hope thanks to a $5,000 check festival organizers donated last October.

From left, Ferando Paez, grocery manager at the Norwalk Shop Rite, helps Westporters Matt Mandell and Jeff Wieser with the groceries they purchased Wednesday for the Gillespie Center food pantry.
Photo Credit: *Contributed*

by Vanessa Inzitari

05/01/2013 5:30 p.m.

The nonprofit, which provides supportive housing to the homeless, operates a food pantry at the Gillespie Center, an emergency shelter on Jesup Road. On Wednesday, Homes With Hope President Jeff Wieser and Slice founder Matt Mandell used a portion of the donated funds to stock-up on groceries for the Gillespie Center food pantry.

The groceries were purchased at Shop Rite in Norwalk, which donated 10 percent of the food purchased, Mandell said in a statement.

Both Mandell and Wieser are also members of Westport’s Representative Town Meeting, the town’s legislative body.

The remainder of the donated funds will be used to purchase more groceries for the pantry in the future.

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