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Wilton Interfaith Action Committee Recognizes Local Police for Impact on Global Community

on  January 8, 2019

Rise Against Hunger partner Wilton Interfaith Action Committee recently reached the exciting milestone of 1 million meals packaged. Wilton Interfaith Action Committee is a consortium of the congregants of 12 Wilton faith communities, Christian, Hindu, Jewish and Muslim, which have joined together around common missions. To celebrate their achievement of 1 million meals packaged, they received a Rise Against Hunger gong, serving as a symbol of their hard work and commitment to creating a world free of hunger.Two individuals who stood out as true Hunger Champions were Sergeant Anna Rita Tornello and Commissioner Don Sauvigne of the Wilton Police Department due to their continued support of Wilton Interfaith Action Committee’s mission.A letter from Wilton Interfaith Action Committee says, “Sgt. Tornello has had a major role in advancing this work [to end hunger] with her performances at Wilton Interfaith Action Committee Meal Packaging Benefit Concerts from their inception, using her remarkable operatic talents. The idea for using her vocal talents to advance charitable work in Wilton was something she herself, along with a pianist colleague of hers, advanced in the local press, and Wilton Interfaith Action Committee gladly accepted their offer.”Also acknowledging the service of Commissioner Sauvigne the letter adds, “With respect to Wilton Interfaith Action Committee’s refugee resettlement work, Commissioner Sauvigne has had a very important role from the outset in helping our family with a warm welcome on their first day in Wilton and regular driving of the five children to a variety of events while their widowed mother has been at work in the almost three years since then.”Everyday heroes like Sgt. Tornello and Commissioner Sauvigne inspire us to continue to grow the movement and press on toward a hunger-free tomorrow. For more on how you can get involved, visit our Get Involved page or donate today!

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About the Author

Jessica Hubacher has served on the Marketing team at Rise Against Hunger since September 2017. As the Marketing Communications Specialist, Jessica manages and assists with the Rise Against Hunger digital strategy.

More Posts by Jessica Hubacher

Strength, Stability And Hope

The gift that filled Nelly’s table.

“We were yielding very little, and the crops could not sustain us the whole year,” Nelly remembers. As a mother of seven and a farmer with two decades of experience, the stress of inconsistent yields was all-consuming. A poor harvest not only strained her family financially, but also limited their own meals to just two a day. Their story reflects that of many in their fishing and farming village near a lake in the Karonga district of northern Malawi. Here, heavy rainfall makes conventional farming methods nearly impossible. The entire village is, quite literally, saturated in food insecurity — a reality that leaves families struggling to survive season after season without a dependable source of nourishment.

In 2019, Nelly began participating in Harvesting Prosperity and Resilience, a sustainable agriculture project implemented by Rise Against Hunger in partnership with the Foundation for Community Support Services (FOCUS). The project works with 3,100 smallholder farmers in Malawi’s Karonga and Mzimba districts to strengthen food and nutrition security by improving production methods, nutrition practices and household income.

Just one year later, Nelly was ready to expand the variety of crops on her farm. What land once only produced maize began to flourish with sesame, cowpeas, rice and groundnuts during the rainy season (summer), as well as maize and vegetables during the dry season (winter). Through climate-smart agriculture training, she learned new techniques like manure making, pit planting and mulching, crop rotation and intercropping. Equipped with these tools, Nelly’s farm began to thrive.

After the 2023–2024 growing season, she sold enough produce to purchase an ox cart. Her harvests in 2024-2025 season yielded over 500 pounds of crops, including 22 bags of groundnuts, seven bags of maize, 12 tins of sesame and three bags of rice. With this surplus, she was able to invest in a motorbike, which she now uses to transport African doughnuts (mandasi) that she cooks and sells — creating yet another source of income for her family.

The transformation reaches far beyond her finances. Nelly now has the stability to provide for her husband and children. “I am able to eat different food types, pay school fees for my children and fulfill the visions that I have made with my family,” she beams. “I am now sleeping peacefully without any fears of food or paying school fees for the children.”

Her leadership has also grown. Today, Nelly serves as a leader in the Harvesting Prosperity and Resilience project, teaching other farmers in her district to adopt climate-resilient, labor-saving practices. By sharing her knowledge, she is multiplying her impact — empowering her neighbors to experience the same transformation she has achieved.

Across Nelly’s community, food and economic security are on the rise. Lombani, a government extension officer for the region, explains, “I can see the community is being transformed in the sense that in the area, there is food, income and nutrition security. Development is also happening at the household level.”

Nelly reflects on what it means to invest in holistic programs that address the root causes of hunger: “We are now healthy people. Children are going to school after eating their breakfast, having high yields and different types of crops due to conservation agriculture practices. With the support from the project, we have food, and we can access other food items from the market after selling our produce.”

This is the gift that fills: a future full of stability, strength and hope. It fills tables with food, families with security and communities with the resources to thrive. It’s an investment in futures rooted in resilience and hope.