A Valley dentist and his family continued a 29-year tradition Thursday (Nov. 21), collecting turkeys and Thanksgiving dinner fixings for the food bank at Spooner House in Shelton.
Bruce Sofferman, his wife, Deborah, and their daughter, Sophia, spent Thursday morning dressed in Thanksgiving costumes standing alongside Route 34 in Derby to once again “collect food and raise awareness,” Deborah Sofferman said.
It’s a bit off-the-wall, but the Soffermans are glad to make the annual “pilgrimage” if it means people like Ansonia’s Roger Picerno take notice.
Picerno dropped off food at the Soffermans’ event Thursday for a very simple reason.
“It’s hard to eat a meal knowing somebody else may not have one,” he said.
He wasn’t the only one, not by a long shot.
Thursday’s drive collected 130 turkeys and more than $200 in cash along with canned goods and other non-perishables.
Sofferman and his wife dress as Pilgrims and their daughter wears a Native American costume for the food drive each year.
Thursday marked the second year the family had situated themselves at the edge of the parking lot of On Time Screen Printing and Embroidery at 155 New Haven Ave. to wave to passing vehicles.
On Time makes T‑shirts, among other items.
Owner Mike Klein said, “I like to support (the Soffermans) any way I can.”
He said he would like to get the local schools and community involved in a competition to design a T‑shirt for the Soffermans’ 2015 food drive. He said he would give a T‑shirt to everyone who donates a turkey to the drive.
On Thursday he donated 72 turkeys to the cause.
Garbed in an attention-getting turkey costume this year was Kate Pipa of Shelton, development officer at Area Congregations Together’s Spooner House. She said she enjoyed waving to passing motorists. “It’s fun to the wave to (the children on) the school buses.”
Pipa said Spooner House staff is “immensely grateful to the Soffermans for doing this every year, and to On Time Printing for letting us use their parking lot, and to the community for their donations.”
Deborah Sofferman said they routinely will receive more food donations at her husband’s Smile Dental Center office, 61 Elizabeth St., Derby, and on Tuesday at his office at 318 Oxford Road, Oxford.
Deborah Sofferman said the final amount collected is usually much larger than they originally realize.
“We’re grateful for the opportunity to help,” she said. “It gets thrilling the more you can give. It’s very important to give to other people.”
A story from WTNH on the food drive is below.
