BankRI Food Drive tops 4,300 pounds of food, and $19K for 14 Rhode Island food pantries

Photo: BankRI’s Johnston branch leading the way with more than 1,000 items collected on behalf of Tri-Town Community Action Agency. Left to right: Leah Fiyod, Assistant Branch Manager; Donna Sangermano, Johnston Branch Manager; Dawn Santos, Sr. Teller; Holly Pettis, Teller Supervisor; and Darius Poole, Sr. Teller. 

BankRI’s recently completed food drive led to more than 2 tons of food for food pantries across the state, with the bank’s Johnston branch leading the way with more than 1,000 items collected on behalf of Tri-Town Community Action Agency. In addition to its food drive, BankRI donated $19,000 to 15 local hunger relief organizations.

Thanks to a generous community, Bank Rhode Island (BankRI) collected 4,338 pounds of food during its recent summer food drive, making this year’s effort one of the program’s largest ever. The food collected benefits 14 community-based food pantries across the state with each pantry also receiving a $1,000 grant from BankRI for food acquisition. Additionally, BankRI donated $5,000 to the Rhode Island Community Food Bank, which recently announced it had distributed a record amount of food over the past year.

Each month, an average of 82,600 Rhode Islanders seek help from the Food Bank and its network of food pantries statewide. The number of people served represents a staggering 50 percent increase over pre-pandemic hunger levels.

“While far too many of our neighbors are struggling to feed their families, I am grateful to our customers and colleagues for the way in which they step up their support when people need it most,” said Will Tsonos, President and CEO of BankRI. “It is important for all of us to help others when we are able, and that is especially true when it comes to an issue as serious as hunger.”

BankRI began its six-week food drive on Monday, July 15 at all 22 of its branches in the state. For the drive, each branch partnered with a pantry in its community to ensure the food it collected stayed local to help feed area residents. Among the branches to collect the most food were Johnston, Highland Avenue in East Providence, and Pawtucket.  The bank’s food pantry partners to benefit from the drive are:

• Better Lives Rhode Island (Providence)
• Blackstone Valley Emergency Food Center (Pawtucket)
• Comprehensive Community Action Program (Cranston)
• Connecting for Children & Families (Woonsocket)
• Coventry Friends of Human Services—Coventry Community Food Bank (Coventry)
• Domestic Violence Program of Crossroads RI (Providence)
• Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Center (Newport)
• East Bay Community Action Program (East Providence)
• East Greenwich Interfaith Food Cupboard (East Greenwich)
• Jonnycake Center for Hope (Wakefield)
• North Kingstown Food Pantry (North Kingstown)
• St. Vincent de Paul Food Pantry at St. Philip Church (Smithfield)
• Tri-County Community Action Agency (Johnston)
• Westbay Community Action (Warwick)

About Bank Rhode Island

Bank Rhode Island, a wholly owned subsidiary of Brookline Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:BRKL), is a full-service, FDIC-insured financial institution headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island.  The bank operates 22 branches and more than 30 ATMs throughout Providence, Kent, Newport and Washington Counties. For more information, visit www.bankri.com.