A $5,000 grant awarded this spring paid for the drivers, vehicles, and volunteer crews behind the 2026 gleaning season
NEWTOWN, Conn. (October 13, 2026) As the 2026 harvest winds down, Real Food CT is reporting on a season made stronger by a $5,000 grant from the Liberty Bank Foundation. The grant, awarded this spring, paid for driver hours, fuel and transportation, volunteer coordination, and field gear for the crews who glean and rescue surplus produce from Valley farms, including Gazy Brothers Farm in Oxford, Sunset Farm in Naugatuck, Laurel Glen Farm in Shelton, Hidden Gem Orchard in Southbury, and Clover Nook Farm in Bethany.
Since January, Real Food CT has delivered nearly 200,000 pounds of food at no cost to about 60 food pantries and community programs across Fairfield, New Haven, and Litchfield counties. That is already more than its full 2025 total of about 160,000 pounds. In the Valley, that food reached partners including the Seymour Oxford Food Bank and the Little Free Pantry on Skokorat in Seymour, St. Vincent de Paul of the Valley Food Bank in Derby, The Salvation Army Ansonia, Spooner House in Shelton, and the Ecumenical Food Bank of Naugatuck and Beacon Falls.
Fresh produce is the first thing pantries run short of. The United Way’s latest ALICE report, released in September, found that 39 percent of Connecticut households, about 570,000, struggle to afford basic needs. Gleaning puts food that farms cannot sell, because of timing, labor, or size, onto pantry shelves the same week it is picked.
“Every pound we glean has to be picked, packed, and driven to a pantry before it spoils,” said Sean Fitzpatrick, Founder and Executive Director of Real Food CT. “Liberty Bank Foundation’s grant paid for the hours and the miles that made that happen this season. We believe everyone deserves access to healthy food, and this year more of it reached Valley families because of their support.”
“At Liberty, we are ‘Community Kind,’” said Liberty Bank President and CEO David W. Glidden, who also serves as President of the Liberty Bank Foundation. “We partner with organizations like Real Food CT to help our neighbors and to ensure that they have what they need to both survive and thrive.”
How to Get Involved
Gleaning continues through the end of the year. Farmers with surplus and volunteers who want to join a gleaning can sign up at realfoodct.org/get-involved or contact Jessi Ruotolo at jessi@realfoodct.org.
About Real Food CT
Real Food CT is a nonprofit based in Newtown, Connecticut, now in its eighth season. It brings locally grown, healthy food to the people who need it most, gleaning and rescuing fresh food from regional farms, including its own two community farms in Newtown, and delivering it at no cost to over 50 food pantries and community programs across Fairfield, New Haven, and Litchfield counties. Learn more at www.realfoodct.org.
About Liberty Bank Foundation
Since its inception in 1997, Liberty Bank Foundation has awarded $23 million in grants to nonprofit organizations throughout Liberty Bank’s market area. Following the Bank’s ‘Be Community Kind’ spirit, the Foundation seeks to improve the lives of individuals and families by investing in three key areas: education and training, affordable housing and food.
