by Donald Eng
WALLINGFORD, CT — With Labor Day weekend marking the traditional back-to-school time, the change in routine can be stressful, according to state Agriculture Commissioner Bryan Hurlburt.
Hurlburt, speaking at a media gathering at Connecticut Foodshare in Wallingford, an agency dedicated to addressing food insecurity statewide, asked people to imagine an additional stressor.
“Today was the first day of school for my kids, and … you can imagine the chaos that surrounds that,” he said. “Getting kids ready. Making sure we know when the bus is coming. Understanding what classes they’re going to have, what they’re going to wear.”
But what if you didn’t know where breakfast was going to come from?
“How challenging would that be to start your school day?” he asked. “Through partnerships like this, we can take a little bit of that chaos, a little bit of that uncertainty away from those parents and those families.”
Hurlburt joined Gov. Ned Lamont, Social Services Commissioner Andrea Barton Reeves, state Rep. Eleni Kavros DeGraw, D-Avon, and CT Foodshare President and CEO Jason Jakubowski to announce millions of dollars in state funding to support the organization.
CT Foodshare President and CEO Jason Jakubowski speaks about his agency’s work during a media briefing on Sept. 2, 2025, in Wallingford, CT. Credit: Donald Eng / CTNewsJunkie
Jakubowski said the need for Foodshare’s services has increased since the COVID-19 pandemic ended.
“A lot of those federal food programs that were set up during the pandemic began to sunset,” he said. “It’s not that there’s a lot of unemployment. People are employed, they’re just having a hard time making ends meet.”
Under the state program, Jakubowski said the state would fund Foodshare with a $3 million appropriation in the 2026 fiscal year, and $6 million in 2027. That marks a significant jump from the roughly $850,000 annual support the state had provided since the program’s founding during the administration of Gov. M. Jodi Rell.
“The great thing about the program is the money can only be used to purchase food for local pantries,” he said. “It’s written right into statute in black and white. We cannot use it for overhead. We can’t use it for salaries. We can’t use it for diesel fuel. We can only use the money to provide food for our local pantries.”
CT Foodshare works with about 600 local pantries that serve all 169 communities in Connecticut, he said. In total, Foodshare clients receive about 45 million meals each year.
State Rep. Eleni Kavros DeGraw speaks during a media briefing at CT Foodshare in Wallingford, CT on Sept. 2, 2025. Credit: Donald Eng
Barton Reeves said the state’s willingness to step up its support at a time when assistance from the federal government is being cut is something to be proud of.
“We all think someone will get money from somewhere. Somebody will figure out how to fill that gap,” she said. “But if you’ve got hungry children at home, if you’re older and retired and food insecure, there is no ‘someone.’ It is just us.”
Kavros DeGraw encouraged people to visit one of CT Foodshare’s mobile units, “either to volunteer, or to see who’s actually hungry in your community.”
In her community of Avon, she said the hungry were primarily seniors, those with disabilities and veterans.
“And that line is getting longer and longer, every other Tuesday when the Foodshare comes,” she said.
Lamont said the same costs that made it difficult for families to buy food had also affected groups like CT Foodshare.
Anthony Anthony, the chief marketing officer for the Connecticut’s Department of Economic and Community Development, holds up a sample of the new license plates that he says will take Connecticut’s pizza identity on the road. Credit: Donald Eng / CTNewsJunkie
“Food’s getting really expensive,” he said. “It’s getting more expensive for Foodshare to get the food, and it’s one of the reasons why there’s food insecurity. That’s a government way of saying that people are, they’re a little hungry. And we’re trying to give them the security they need.”
Another recently announced state program to help the food pantry is the state’s new pizza license plates, a partnership between the state Department of Motor Vehicles and CT Foodshare. The $65 plate ($134 for a custom “vanity” plate) is available at www.ctfoodshare.org/pizzaplate and will help raise money to fight hunger as well as show off your pizza pride, officials said.