Hassan Thanks Food Program Volunteers

Gov. Maggie Hassan, D-Exeter, stopped by the Capital Region Food Program's Holiday Food Basket Program at the National Guard Armory on Dec. 17, to thank volunteers for their work helping others in Concord and 17 other communities around the state.

This year is the 40th year of the program. When it first started, in 1974, about 100 families were assisted. This holiday season, more than 2,600 families will be assisted with more than 1,100 volunteers hauling away more than 70 tons of food that has been collected and purchased.

During the last four decades, more than $2.5 million has been spent and nearly 3,000 tons of food has been distributed to those in need. Organizers proudly noted that 100 percent of every dollar contributed to the organization was used to purchase the food.

“There’s no paid staff,” said Maria Manus Painchaud, the Holiday Food Basket Project chairwoman. “Every dollar goes to buy food.”

Hassan said the volunteers made her “incredibly proud to be governor of the Granite State” and showed that New Hampshire spirit that she loved, of people coming together to work to help others.

“I am so proud of everything that all Granite Staters do when they come together like this,” she said. “We have events like this where we’re all kind of gathering together close, because it’s a little cold, and it’s a reminder of the power of true human warmth when we come together and we think about each other. And we are so much stronger together than we are separately.”