Fall 2025 Highlight Series
Welcome to the Allbritton Center’s Fall 2025 Highlight Series! As the year draws to a close, we’re proud to reflect on a semester defined by community care, collaboration, and meaningful impact. From food justice initiatives to holiday giving, the Allbritton Center worked alongside students and local partners to support Middletown families during a particularly challenging season.
Championship Game Food Drive and Beyond
In response to the suspension of SNAP benefits and other essential supports, the Allbritton Center organized a community food drive during the NESCAC Championship Football Game on November 8th. Thanks to the enthusiasm and dedication of student volunteers, the drive raised $983 in cash donations, collected two bins of nonperishable food items and baby formula, and inspired numerous direct online donations to Amazing Grace Food Pantry and Gilead Community Services’ Food Drive.
The effort in supporting local families and partners continued through the Allbritton Center’s broader Food Drive, which invited Wesleyan students, staff, faculty, and Middletown residents to donate baby formula, nonperishable food, and grocery store gift cards at the drop-off location in the JCCP student lounge. One especially remarkable contribution came from the Bobbie For Change Foundation, an organic infant formula and supplements company founded 3.5 years ago by Wesleyan alumni Michele Lampach. Bobbie generously donated 216 baby formulas, directly supporting Middletown families through the JCCP.
Our key partner in the Food Drive effort was Middlesex United Way, which supported the distribution of donations across the community. Whitney Mooney, Director of Development at the Middlesex United Way, shared:
“Middlesex United Way was proud to partner with Allbritton’s food drive during the SNAP crisis and as local food pantries worked to recover from months of increased demand. The food collected helped support individuals and families across Middlesex County and strengthened multiple pantries throughout the area. We are deeply grateful to everyone who donated, volunteered, and helped coordinate this impactful effort.”
Middletown Community Thanksgiving Project
A few weeks after the Championship Game Food Drive, Wesleyan marked its 14th year participating in the Middletown Community Thanksgiving Project (MCTP). Through MCTP, members of the Wesleyan community join dozens of local organizations, businesses, and volunteers to ensure families receive the ingredients for a traditional Thanksgiving meal.
Originally created by a small group of local business leaders in response to gaps left when the Red Cross scaled back its food basket program in Middletown, MCTP has grown into a cornerstone of holiday support in Middletown. Lara SantaMaria, MCTP Coordinator, reflected on the project’s remarkable growth:
“What started as a need to feed about 200 families has expanded to this year providing food for 1,158 families. Today, we have 75 organizations that partner with us through donations and a couple hundred volunteers that help make it all happen.”
Wesleyan has been involved in the project since its beginning, and this year has not been an exception! With the help of over a dozen amazing student volunteers, the Jewett Center for Community Partnership donated 200 Bon Appetite pies and 50 cans of yams to the project.
MCTP is an important part of ensuring that everyone in our community is able to have a meaningful celebration and enjoy a meal with their loved ones. SantaMaria also spoke to the project’s impact during a particularly difficult year:
“We have people come back year after year to sign up and they are so grateful to be able to have a Thanksgiving meal for their family and friends. This year there was an extreme need as the SNAP freeze started the day we started our sign ups. We had more people than ever the first week.
We are so grateful for a community that comes together to support and help each other. It truly takes an army for this endeavor to happen each year and Middletown steps up and makes sure it happens”.
Community Care Give Back Drive
The semester concluded with the Community Care Give Back Drive on December 11th. In collaboration with the Middletown Racial Justice Coalition and Oddfellows Playhouse, the Jewett Center for Community Partnerships helped provide more than 30 Middletown families with bags filled with accessories, toys, baby formula and art kits — spreading care and joy during the holiday season. Lanea Sellem, Middletown Racial Justice Coalition’s Program Coordinator, reflected on this meaningful collaboration:
“This year was special. For the first time as a Middletown resident, I was able to connect with three organizations that I’m connected with to come together and run this event. Between Wesleyan’s JCCP, Middletown Racial Justice Coalition and Oddfellows Playhouse Theater we came together to be community connected. The way we did this was by collecting non-perishable foods,winter coats and toys. We worked together as a team and opened the doors to the community. We had a great outcome and look forward to doing it again next year.”
We extend our deepest gratitude to our community partners, colleagues, and students who made these initiatives possible. Together, we continue to show up for one another and demonstrate the power of collective care—especially in times of need. Stay engaged, and thank you for being part of this work!