Eldon Hafford: Five Years of Feeding the Hungry

For more than thirty years, Southington's Bread For Life has been dedicated to providing food, fellowship and dignity to the men and women of the town in need of its services. Eldon Hafford made that mission his own upon becoming Bread For Life’s executive director five years ago, and under his leadership the agency has expanded to the point where it serves more than 30,000 meals per year.

“You can get food stamps and all, but that will not pay the bills and pay the rent,” Hafford said when describing his work. “If there’s no money left over, there’s no food, what do you say to a child when he says to mom or dad, ‘Can I have a snack?’ and they have to say, ‘Honey, we have nothing’.”

Hafford’s work to prevent such situations has led to the reorganization of Bread For Life’s kitchen, the expansion of its shut-in and senior feeding programs, the relocation of the town’s food pantry to make it more accessible, and the relocation of its warehouse to the Valley Bank on North Main Street.

In 2010, provided more than 5,000 meals to local shut-ins and more than 9,600 meals to seniors in low-income housing, while the food pantry helped more than 2,000 individuals. Hafford said that Bread For Life will have served at least 31,000 meals by the end of this year.

Hafford came to work at Bread For Life following his retirement from the food industry. In his 50 years in that business, he served as a director and president of Connecticut's school food service, sat on boards in Washington, D.C., with the American School Food Service, and belonged to both the Connecticut Chefs Association and its Health Association. He was also a chef at a northern Maine vocational school as well as the owner of Eldon's Catering.

He was brought in only to reorganize Bread For Life's warehouse, which necessitated a top-to-bottom overhaul. During the process, Hafford was told that Bread For Life would need a new executive director in the near future, and he was offered the position.  Though reluctant at first because he wanted to spend time with his family, Hafford said he eventually accepted because of the agency's importance to the community.

Bread For Life's sole regular source of income is the annual grant it receives from the United Way as one of its 501(c)3 agencies, and is otherwise supported through donations and volunteer work. Hafford is heavily involved in local clubs and churches and speaks to Southington organizations to raise awareness about the hardships afflicting their neighbors.

“Southington is an active community. It’s got a lot of great stuff here, but we’ve also got many in our town that are going through tough times. So Eldon has been able to make it real to our community and make us realize that we’re here to help each other,” said John Myers, the executive director of the Southington-Cheshire YMCA.

The two men serve on a number of community initiatives together, while the YMCA encourages its youth groups to contribute to Bread For Life either through volunteering or food donation. The YMCA's lobby has a drop off basket for donations, which Hafford collects at least once a week.

Recent initiatives included food drives for Thanksgiving, where Hafford says Bread For Life provides for an entire Thanksgiving meal to families with the aid of ESPN and Southington Community Services. Local Boy Scout troops also contribute annually, with this year's food drive resulting in 7,000 pounds of food.

Three years ago, Hafford collaborated with Southington Community Services to help make local food pantries more readily available to needy citizens. Whereas the Bread For Life pantry was only open for five hours per week and the SCS's for 40, the collaboration resulted in a single food pantry located in the refurbished fire house at 90 Norton St. open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. daily.

Hafford helped introduce a school breakfast program that same year to help make sure that no child in the school system had to go hungry. Bread For Life expanded the program from three elementary schools to the town's middle and high schools as well. While the schools ultimately handle the program, Hafford said that Bread For Life supplies funding to keep it running.

Bread For Life's daily meal program currently reaches six seniors living in low-income housing as well as 32 shut-ins incapable of leaving their homes.  These hot meals come with an additional, free bagged meal consisting of a sandwich, a piece of fruit, a snack and cookies. Bread For Life volunteers even provide social interaction for some of the individuals they visit.

"Some of them don't have anyone to come and call on them and visit with them," Hafford said.  "This gives them a chance to get together and share some of the things going on in their lives."

“He’s all heart, I guess is what I think of Eldon,” Myers said.  “He’s the guy with the biggest heart, and it’s their mission of making sure no one goes hungry, and that’s in the forefront of him at all times.”