Annual Cheryl Jankura Memorial Food Drive to be Held on June 15

Press release

Annual Cheryl Jankura Memorial Food Drive includes tribute to late colleagues, community leaders

SOUTHINGTON – The annual food drive this month in honor of a late Southington teacher will also pay tribute to several of her former colleagues and other community leaders. The 5th Annual Cheryl A. Jankura Memorial Food Drive will run from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Sat., June 15 at Bread for Life, 31 Vermont Ave. in Southington.

The items collected will help supplement the meals provided through Bread for Life’s Summer Lunch Program.

“Simply having lunch can be a challenge for children who receive free meals at school. When summer comes and school is out, there is a food gap and Bread for Life steps in to fill it,” said Donna Ayer, executive director. “Last summer we prepared and served thousands of lunches for Southington children in need. Through the lunch program we were able to help many families that may be challenged by feeding their children during the summer.”

The wish list for the annual neighborhood outreach project includes water bottles, juice boxes, granola and breakfast bars, fruit cups, fruit snacks, chips, cookies, pudding and other individually-packaged items.

To help cover the cost of perishable food items, grocery store gift cards are welcomed, as are monetary donations that can be made by check or online.

The drive each year honors Jankura, a popular visual arts teacher who spent her 36-year career in Southington, the majority of it at the high school. She retired in 2005 and died in 2011 at age 63 after a battle with cancer.

This collection, billed as the “Knights & Legends Weekend,” will additionally celebrate the life and work of 14 well-known Southington High School educators and coaches and community leaders who died in 2022 and 2023 – Social Studies teacher William Boyles; Family and Consumer Science teacher Joanne Lasbury; baseball coach Charles Lembo; Kathleen McGrath, appointed in 2002 as the first woman principal at SHS; coach and teacher Joseph Orsene; Jeanne Schumann, teacher and later a guidance counselor; Peter Sepko, coach and teacher; Science teacher Nellie Shepard; Social Studies teacher Salvatore Triano; Robert Britton, who before his death was the last surviving member of the first Southington Town Council; library director Audrey Brown; longtime civic leaders Nicholas DePaola and Walter Hushak; and Roy Rodrigues, director of Southington Adult Education.

Honorary alumni ambassadors for the food drive are state Rep. Christopher Poulos (Class of 1993) and former Board of Education member Dawn Derynoski Anastasio (Class of 1995).
Those wishing to donate before or after the drive can drop off items at Bread for Life weekdays from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information, visit www.southingtonbreadforlife.or... or call Ayer at 860-276.8389.