Cheese Brothers family,
Since moving our business online during the pandemic, I've spent an inordinate amount of time in front of a computer screen. Days I used to spend at farmer's markets, in the cold storage warehouse, driving the refrigerated van across the country, were replaced overnight by emails, Zoom calls, and Excel spreadsheets.
I'm not complaining! Shipping our cheese to people around the country would have been a pipe dream when we started this business just over a decade ago. But every once in awhile, I talk to someone who brings all this digital stuff firmly into the realm of the real.
Enter Karen Thomas, the Executive Director of the Friendly Hands Food Bank in Torrington, CT.
I met Karen through Rick Dalle Valle, the winner of our 2025 Veterans Day giveaway of a Year's Supply of Cheese. Rick, a prolific volunteer and veteran known to all in the small city of Torrington, wanted to donate some cheese to a monthly event at the town's new Veterans Center located within the Friendly Hands Food Bank. I asked to learn more. He gave me Karen's number.
We spoke briefly, but it was a memorable conversation. She told me the food bank she oversees was no small affair. Just last year they moved to a 10,000 square foot facility in Torrington. They serve 12,000 people in need monthly. They have huge freezers, refrigerators, warehouse space, dozens of volunteers.
She told me that within the Food Bank was a new veterans center that Rick was instrumental in organizing. A simple room with space for 75 people, open five days per week. Free coffee and snacks. A community luncheon once a month. A communal big screen TV. Computers. Free laundry service. A place to go to feel welcome and wanted.
She told me that people don't just need food, they need community. Especially in these times when we're all too often stuck at home, in front of our screens.
So this Memorial Day weekend, we're harnessing this digital community to help a physical community in a very specific place, donating 10% of all sales to the Veterans Center in Torrington now through EOD Monday.
We hope the money raised will help someone feel welcome and wanted.
We hope to remember the meaning of community this Memorial Day.
Take it Cheesy, my friends,
Eric
On behalf of the Cheese Brothers team