MIDDLETOWN, CT (WFSB) - With Thanksgiving one week away, the Middletown community has donated hundreds of pounds of food to ensure struggling families have holiday meals after food assistance requests reached unprecedented levels this year.

The Middletown Community Thanksgiving Project has collected donations at Fellowship Church and other drop-off locations throughout the community. Organizers say demand has been higher than ever before.

“The first week that we did signups, we almost went through half of what we had planned for, so we knew immediately that we were going to have to increase the number of baskets that we were preparing,” said Lara Santamaria, who helped coordinate the donations.

SNAP freeze creates urgent need

Santamaria said the surge in requests came after SNAP benefi

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