Health Net Comes Through Again. Click here for more photos

This video was produced by Jerry Kosturko at Comcast's CN8 Seymour facility and shown as part of a Thanksgiving holiday special on CN8 throughout New England. The piece was shot by Mike Fay and edited by Ron Karkut. We thank them for allowing us to present it here.

HARVEST HOUSE II is history! Volunteers streamed in from all over the Valley to meet the challenge of feeding the hungry in the Valley. They came in all ages, sizes and shapes. There were Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts, cheerleaders and other athletes, school children and senior citizens. What they had in common was a determination to accumulate enough food to take care of those less fortunate at a time when local food banks are down to bare walls. And that's what the Harvest House volunteers found when they arrived early Saturday morning - bare walls, but before they left the walls of Harvest House were packed with tons of food that spread out beyond the walls of Harvest House to the adjoining tent.

The original walls of the 400 square foot Harvest House had been in storage since making their debut in 2005. Employees from Shelton Public Works brought them back to their new site Corporate Drive in Shelton and volunteers from the Corporate Volunteer Council assembled in time for the "wall packing" that went on all day Saturday. The completed House was on display until Monday morning when it was be dismantled and all of the food distributed to area food banks. Agencies who received the bounty of this harvest included: Area Congregations Together, Fr. McKenna St. Vincent DePaul Society, The YMCA, The Umbrella, and the Parent-Child Resource Center

The actual design of the Harvest House was created by the brilliant architectural staff of Fletcher Thompson.

John Trovarelli, Area Congregations Together Case Worker said "This is exciting. Around the end of the summer, the food pantry becomes empty. Harvest House is a great extra source. This is great. We are very happy about it."

During Harvest House I, hundreds of volunteers including school children, companies, churches, civic groups and just the Valley population at large helped to make Harvest House the amazing success it was. It was truly a miracle of major proportion. Sandi Baillie, Director of Father McKenna St, Vincent DePaul Society said "I am very happy to hear this news. The need continues to increase each year. When we received food from Harvest House I, we were able to service people we would not have been able to. Our food bank was so low; we were turning many people away. This is wonderful."

Among the corporations that participated in this effort were:

• Arson Productions

• Basement Systems

• Bright Horizons

• CAPS Business Recovery Services

• Civitella’s

• Comcast

• ComputerShare

• David M. Grant Caterer’s

• Emhart Teknologies

• Enterprise Rent-a-Car

• EntreCap Financial

• F.W. Serra, Inc.

• Fletcher-Thompson

• Fred Ortoli Photography

• GE International

• Greater Valley Chamber of Commerce

• Hamworthy Peabody Combustion

• Hartford Insurance

• Hasler, Inc.

• Health Net

• Holiday Inn Express

• Homewood Suites by Hilton

• HSBC Bank USBC

• Iroquois Gas Transmission

• Kerite Company

• Latex Foam International

• Marks of Design

• Microsol, Inc.

• Naugatuck Savings Bank

• NEC Infrontia, Inc.

• NEC Unified Solutions

• Ned Miller Associates, Inc.

• Perkin Elmer Precisely

• Pitney Bowes

• Professional Travel Planners

• Prudential Financial

• SSC, Inc.

• The McIntyre Group

• The United Illuminating Company

• Wachovia Bank

• Wal*Mart/Derby

• Warner Financial Group

SPECIAL THANKS TO

• Jones Tree Farm

• The Coffee Connection

• R.D. Scinto

• Derby Shelton Rotary

• Pilgrim Barbecue

• Huntington Rental

• Copy Graphics

• SSC, Inc.

• Comcast Staff

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