Food banks talk merger as demand increases statewide

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    CONNECTICUT, USA (Hartford Business Journal ) — The state’s two major food banks are in talks to merge, the nonprofits announced this week.

Bloomfield’s Foodshare and Wallingford-based Connecticut Food Bank would form one statewide organization to better address growing food insecurity due to the pandemic’s economic impact. The final deal is expected to be announced early next year.

“We have been engaged in a deliberate and thoughtful process to determine how we can achieve our united mission,” said Wes Higgins, the former board chairman of the Connecticut Food Bank who is co-leading merger talks. “We have worked together in the past on issues of advocacy, policy, and service delivery. This is a natural evolution of that partnership.”

Foodshare President & CEO Jason Jakubowski would lead the new organization, which would have a new name to reflect its statewide role.

The new organization would continue operations in Bloomfield and Wallingford and there are no immediate plans to make reductions in staff, Higgins said.

Foodshare operates in Hartford and Tolland counties and Connecticut Food Bank operates in Fairfield, Litchfield, Middlesex, New Haven, New London and Windham counties.

Demand for food in Foodshare’s service area increased 35% when the pandemic hit and the need remains acute, Jakubowski told the Hartford Business Journal in October.

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