Team Effort By Softball Players Will

Put Food On Pantry’s Shelves

For the past two years the members of Newtown High School’s softball team have spent time fundraising to pay for trips to Florida for spring training. During its most recent off-season, however, the girls decided they would not be going to Disney this spring break. Team captains Natalie Dunn, Megan Gibbons, and Colleen Cunningham felt it was important to continue the team’s fundraising efforts.

On April 18, the team made a $500 donation to FAITH Food Pantry, representing a donation of half of what they raised during the past few months.

The other half of the money the team raised was used to cover the cost of their own team sweats and end-of-season gifts for their coaches.

Team members began by adopting a family for the holiday season, providing food and gifts for an unnamed family.

Inspired by unused sporting equipment in their homes, the girls next organized a townwide collection of gently used sporting equipment through the public schools and Newtown Youth Academy. During December the ball players cleaned, organized, and delivered four carloads of sporting and safety equipment including more than 150 pairs of sports shoes, 50 bats and mitts, shin guards, and dozens of softballs, baseballs, basketballs and soccer balls.

That effort concluded with a visit to The Daughters of Charity in Bridgeport, a grassroots rescue mission that ministers directly to the needy within the Bridgeport community, regardless of their ethnic background or religion. The girls were welcomed by Sister Theresa Tremblay, director of the mission, and volunteer Albert Benejan Grajales.

The softball team also conducted a Yankee Candle sale and did volunteer work for Creative Mailing Services in Monroe in exchange for a donation to the team. A car wash conducted at the beginning of the 2010-11 school year also put money into the fundraising account.

While the girls are still working their way through their 2011 season, members of the team welcomed Barbara Lynch, a volunteer for FAITH Food Pantry, to one of their pregame practices this week.

Located in the basement of St John’s Episcopal Church in Sandy Hook, FAITH — which stands for Food Assistance Immediate Temporary Help — is in its 28th year of helping any Newtown resident who needs food assistance, and doing so without question or judgment. Although located in a church, the food pantry is not affiliated with the Episcopal Church nor any religious organization.