We gave to the following organizations during our Q2 2022 giving period:
$1,850 to the Colchester Fire Cadets

• Our donation supported first responder school and training for young cadets looking to serve in volunteer / career fire/ambulance town roles in Colchester
  

$925 to the Colchester Senior Center

• Donation went to the Senior Center Programs Budget

$1000 to Bacon Academy Senior

• Donation went to a student chosen by the Bacon Academy Guidance Department, a senior student who has been accepted into a 4 year college or university. 

In January 2022 our group donated a total of $3,300:

1. $1,650 to Freezin for a Reason, a grassroots effort that raises money for the Colchester Fuel Bank.
   
2. $825 to Collaborative for Colchester's Children (C3), a community partnership that provides services and support to children and families birth to 8. 
   
3. $825 in gift cards given to Youth and Social Services to distribute to those in need:
   
   1. (8) $25 gift cards from Family Pizza
      
   2. (8) $25 gift cards from Plum Tomato
   3. (8) $25 gift cards from Noel's
   4. (9) $25 gift cards from Kidsignments

Fuel Bank - $1,450 was donated to Youth and Social Services' Fuel Bank. Funds are used for fuel needs in town.

Thanksgiving Baskets - $725 was donated to The Rotary Foundation to support their Thanksgiving Basket initiative. Thanksgiving Baskets are prepared and delivered to those in need during Thanksgiving. 

Colchester Hayward Volunteer Fire Department - $725 was donated to the Fire Department. Funds will go toward training needs. 

In April, we used our online survey again to allow all members to vote on their top three causes. We tallied up the votes and donated the following amounts to these wonderful causes:

$1,150 to Parks & Rec Summer Camp - Colchester Parks & Rec will add this donation to their summer camp scholarship fund, to be used to help kids go to camp this summer.

$575 to the Senior Center - The impact of the pandemic, especially on older adults, has been profound.  This donation will help serve our community seniors in numerous ways - through social/recreational connection, transportation services, social services, our Senior Nutrition Program and more. 

$575 to a Bacon Academy Senior - This donation will go to a deserving BA senior who has been accepted into a 4-year college or university.

On January 13, 2021, our members got together virtually to discuss worthy causes in the town of Colchester. Every member got a chance to submit one cause, and those who couldn't make the meeting submitted their cause via email and we shared it with the group during the call.

Since our group has grown in size, we updated our process and this time put all submissions in a hat and picked 5 at random. Then after the meeting we sent out a survey which described the 5 causes and gave every member a chance to complete the survey to vote on their top three choices.

We weighted the votes, so a member's first choice got 3 points, second choice got 2 points and third choice got 1 point. We tallied up all the points to get 3 winning causes. The cause with the most points got 50% of our group's donations and the second and third picks each got 25% of our donations.

Here were our winners and donation amounts:

Received $900 donation: Freezin' for a Reason - An annual event on the town green to raise funds for the Colchester Fuel Bank. The actual fundraising event is 2/12 through 2/14, and all funds collected go directly to the Fuel Bank. The Fuel Bank is run by Youth and Social Services and Fuel Bank funds are used solely for heating expenses for families in town.

Received $450 donation: Community Plow - An initiative started by Eric Cummings, owner of local business Brakes and More LLC. He is raising money to purchase and maintain a plow that will offer free snow removal for those in town who need it during the winter. Eric and his team at Brakes and More will operate the plow.

Received $450 donation: Colchester Food Bank - Youth and Social Services runs the Food Bank in town. All money donated to the Food Bank is used for food and any food bank related needs to support those in Colchester.

On October 13th, 2020, Colchester Cares members joined together virtually to discuss various needs in the town of Colchester. The group had $1,600 total to give, and decided to split the money to give to the following causes:

1. Colchester Rotary Club: Our donation is helping fund the Rotary's Thanksgiving Basket initiative, which distributes 150+ fully stocked Thanksgiving dinners to Colchester families in need.

2. Youth and Social Services Town of Colchester: YSS is using our group's donation to support families who are in need during the pandemic.

3.Colchester Lions Club: Our donation is helping fund the Lions Club Holiday Basket initiative, which distributes 150+ dinners to Colchester families in need this December.

​Thank you to all Colchester Cares members for supporting these organizations, who in turn do amazing things for our town. COVID-19 has presented many challenges to these organizations, we are so glad we can help support their initiatives.

On July 14th, Colchester Cares members joined together virtually to discuss various causes and needs in the town. This quarter we had $1,000 to give. We decided to split the $1,000 to support several initiatives:

1. A portion of the money is being used to purchase gift cards from Kidsignments of Colchester. Colchester Youth and Social Services will help get the gift cards to those in need. 

2. Colchester Cares will also use a portion of the money to partner with Fud Delivery to offer a free delivery day for Colchester residents on July 29th, 2020. Fud Delivery and their Colchester Restaurant Partners will cook and deliver their delicious food on this day at no additional delivery cost to the community. 

3. Lastly, we are donating a portion of the money to David Wyatt to support his Eagle Scout Troop 72 project to build two new baseball dugouts at his high school, Norwich Tech.