This year, April 15 is not only the infamous Tax Day deadline for filers across the country. For Joseph Melillo Middle School students, it marks the cutoff for students to collect 1,000 canned goods to benefit the East Haven Food Pantry. For each can collected as part of the 1,000-Can Challenge, Town Attorney Joseph Zullo, local attorney Al Carocci, and District 2 Town Councilman Joe Deko have teamed up and will donate $1 per donated item to the Joseph Melillo Middle School Parent-Teacher Council (PTC), up to a total of $1,000 dollars.

“This is the third time we have rolled out this challenge to the middle school since it began in 2014,” Zullo explained. “It is critically important that our young people learn and understand the importance of community involvement and of giving back. There is no much need in our community and, through this initiative, we do our best to teach students that being a part of a community means working together to address those common needs.”

In past years, the initiative has brought students, teachers, and parents together to organize collection drives and keep track of the canned goods collected. Proceeds donated in the past have helped the Middle School PTC pay for extracurricular and supplemental educational programs for students throughout the middle school. The program also brings much-needed donations to the town’s food pantry at a time of year when donations sometimes lag behind.

Zullo added, “In the past, representatives from the East Haven Food Pantry have always noted how donations tend to drop off after the winter holidays. Although donations drop off, the need for those donations does not subside. This initiative not only looks to shore up donations, but to draw attention to the food pantry’s ongoing need for monetary and food donations.”

According to materials presented to the Town Council at its January 2019 meeting, in 2018, the food pantry served 104,910 meals to 449 East Haven families.

Deko added, “As I listened to the East Haven Food Pantry present at the January council meeting, I was stunned to hear how many East Haven families are fed by our food pantry. I am proud to be donating my monthly Town Council stipend to this cause, which I hope will raise awareness of the ongoing support our food pantry both needs and provides to our community.”

Carocci, a local attorney and former member of the town’s zoning and civil service boards, added, “Hunger insecurity is not a problem confined solely to the holiday season. I am proud to be joining this cause and hopeful it will draw attention to the incredible efforts of our local food pantry volunteers.”

Zullo concluded, “I’m so proud to be teaming up with Councilman Deko and attorney Carocci to be able to put this challenge on for the third time since 2014. I think initiatives like this represent the very best of what East Haven is about. Although April 15 is quickly approaching, I have the utmost confidence that my friends at the middle school will rise to the occasion and collect more than 1,000 cans.”

For more information, visit www.townofeasthavenct.org.