Monetary Donations made by members of our community enable Care & Share to provide emergency financial assistance to local individuals and families and support our programs. Funds are also used to purchase emergency supplies, grocery and other gift cards, and food/household items to supplement items donated by members of the community.

95% of the monetary donations we receive directly benefit Care & Share clients. The remaining 5% is used for Care & Share operating expenses, including telephone, postage and utilities at the Food Pantry. Care & Share has no paid staff, and volunteers use their personal vehicles for deliveries and other activities.

How Donations Are Used

Care & Share uses monetary donations to pay for emergency assistance for our clients. Payments are made directly to the providers of goods and services, who in turn provide them to the clients, or items are purchased by Care & Share and provided to clients.

Emergency Assistance is one of Care & Share’s larger programs. Emergency monetary assistance of over $ 22,060 was provided to over 139 clients in 2007. Assistance provided by Care & Share has included:

• Emergency food deliveries and grocery gift cards
• Medical bill co-pays and prescriptions
• Rent
• Utilities
• Home heating fuel
• Gasoline
• Insurance

In addition, a Care & Share liaison is in contact with each local school nurse to see how our organization might help. This has resulted in Care & Share purchasing supplies of new socks and underwear which are kept by the nurses for emergencies. Care & Share also provides healthy snacks for students who have not had breakfast.

Donations are also used to provide camperships to local children, as well as scholarships to students to help defray the cost of college and other secondary school educational expenses. And, as a part of our long-term plans, which are becoming increasingly important, we are presently considering options for improvement of our existing facilities used to house the Food Pantry and other Care & Share programs and supplies.

How You Can Help

Tax-deductible donations and gift cards can be mailed to:
     Care & Share of East Lyme, Inc.
     PO Box 114
     East Lyme, CT 06333
If your employer offers a Matching Gifts Program, you can help us even more by making your contribution in conjunction with the program. If you are in a position to give us a recurring gift, we would be very appreciative. You may wish to streamline this process by making your contribution through an online service such as justgive.org.

We are appreciative of every contribution – every dollar makes a difference.