Annual Heart of Women Award Reception

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Please join the Women's Business Council as we honor this year's Heart of Women Award recipient, Kathleen Purdy, Executive/Founder of Hillside Food Outreach.

In 1997, Kathy conceived the food program in honor of her late grandmother, whose kindness and lifelong charity prompted her desire to help others. In Kathy’s words…
 
“Well into her 80s, my grandmother had sufficient resources to live comfortably, but appeared to be struggling regardless. I learned that in the senior citizens building where she was living, she was sharing her food and supplies with neighbors who couldn’t make ends meet with only a social security check as income. With what remained after rent and utilities, these seniors were left having to choose between medicine and food. There simply wasn’t enough for both. It didn’t seem right to have my grandmother continue bearing this burden, so I coordinated an arrangement that would get food assistance to all of the 20 elderly neighbors she had been feeding.”
 
As time went on and word spread, additional need in the community became apparent, and the agency was born. What began as a labor of love to feed a few seniors has grown to now serve over 2,400 people each month.

Kathy is proof that, one person with heart can make a difference. Please join us for an inspiring evening and for a chance to say "Thank you."

This event is generously sponsored by People's United Bank.