Election Day food drive tradition continues
October 18, 2024 | By Waterbury Roundabout 
For more than 20 years, Waterbury voters have come to combine voting in November elections with a food drive timed just as the local food shelf begins to see its heaviest traffic of the year.
This year is no different as supplies at the Waterbury Common Market (formerly the Waterbury Area Food Shelf) are beginning to get scarce.
According to market Director Sara Whitehair, the need is always there but it ticks up in the fall as people begin to face fuel bills along with other winter-related expenses.
To help restock the shelves, Waterbury resident Mary Miller and a team of volunteers
will hold the annual Election Day food drive at the polls at Brookside Primary School on
Tuesday, Nov. 5. They will be accepting canned goods, non-perishable food items and monetary donations from 7 a.m. until the polls close at 7 p.m.
In a recent community announcement, Whitehair listed some current product needs for the market including: crunchy peanut butter, crackers, nuts, pretzels, popcorn, snack bars, pasta, oatmeal as well as reusable shopping bags and paper towels, and personal care items such as shampoo, conditioner, deodorant, lotion.
If you vote before Nov. 5 and want to contribute to the drive, use the donation bins at the Waterbury Village Market or Shaw’s to drop off grocery items (or stop by the polls). Monetary gifts can be mailed to: Waterbury Common Market, 57 S. Main Street, Waterbury, VT 05676. Financial donations allow the food shelf to buy food directly from the Vermont Foodbank and other sources to fill in gaps and keep shelves stocked.
According to Miller, the first Election Day food drive was held in 2000 and it collected $359 and a dozen boxes filled with food. In 2018, the last election before the COVID-19 pandemic halted in-person contact, 32 totes were filled and the drive collected $2,176 in cash.
Miller noted the ongoing success of this drive shows that Waterbury is a very generous, caring community.
For those who may need some help putting food on their tables, the Waterbury Common Market is open to everyone living in the Waterbury area including Duxbury, Bolton, Middlesex, Moretown and Stowe.
Located at 57 S. Main Street, the market is open Mondays and Fridays from 10 a.m. to noon, and Wednesdays 3-5 p.m. (Recent Tuesday evening hours have been suspended for the winter season. The market hopes to resume those in the springtime.)