Connecticut Foodshare President and CEO Jason Jakubowski, Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal and WKCI PD Adam Rivers.
iHeartMedia Connecticut announced today that two of its Thanksgiving Week food drives events collected 3,827 frozen turkeys, 6,380 pounds of non-perishable food items and raised over $151,000 in monetary donations to benefit Connecticut Foodshare.
iHeartMedia Hartford stations The River 105.9, KISS 95-7, Country 92-5 and 97-9 ESPN supported Bank of America for the 22nd annual Turkey Tuesday which took place at City Place in Hartford on Tuesday, November 16, 2021. The River 105.9’s on-air personality Renee DiNino, broadcasted from the lobby of City Place to raise awareness and encourage donations from 6 a.m. until 3 p.m.
“Hunger is a chronic problem that affects one out of every seven people in Connecticut, especially those most vulnerable in our community,” said Joe Gianni, president, Bank of America of Greater Hartford. “Our continued partnership with Connecticut Foodshare is one way that we are working to address critical needs locally. We are pleased that ‘Turkey Tuesday’ has become the single-largest Thanksgiving food collection event in Greater Hartford.”
Later in the week, the 31st annual “KC101 Stuff-A-Bus” took place on Thursday, November 18 and Friday, November 19 at the Hamden Plaza in Hamden from 6 a.m. – 7 p.m. on both days. The event featured on-air personalities Vinnie Penn (960WELI), Rob Dibble (97-9 ESPN) and Adam Rivers (KC101) who hosted live broadcasts from inside a tent in the parking lot.
“Every year, for the past 31 years, we continue our holiday tradition of dedicating days to collect donations and meet local residents of the community,” said Vanessa Wojtusiak, Vice President of Marketing for iHeartMedia Hartford and New Haven. “We take to heart our role as a local media organization to provide this service to the people of Connecticut. It’s wonderful to see so many people answer the call to selflessly help their neighbors in need and benefit a tremendous organization whose impact is felt statewide in Connecticut, especially during the holiday season.”
Sponsors for the events included Bank of America, Planet Fitness, Connex Credit Union, Toyota of Wallingford, Trantolo & Trantolo with special support from Connecticut Party Rentals, USA Security, Durham Bus Services, Hamden Fire Fighters Engine 2, Hamden Police and Hamden Plaza Association, LLC. in conjunction with JCorp Realty, Inc.
“Our Turkey and Thirty campaign was an incredible success. We collected and distributed over 52,000 turkeys throughout Connecticut. We could not have achieved our goal without the tremendous support from our friends at iHeartMedia and Bank of America. Thank you to everyone who participated in Turkey Tuesday and ‘Stuff-A-Bus’ – you made a difference in the lives of your neighbors this holiday season,” said Jason Jakubowski, President and CEO of Connecticut Foodshare.
