Danbury Local Hero: Junk King Connects Seniors With Food Bank

DANBURY, CT — When times are tough, heroes emerge. We all know someone who's making a difference right now as we live through unprecedented times. Here at Patch, we've launched an initiative to help recognize these everyday heroes.

Danbury's Tom McCabe is the owner of Junk King Tri County and Hudson Valley. Back in late March, when the number of COVID-19 cases were first starting to ramp up, two of his more elderly customers mentioned to him they were afraid to go out and buy groceries. So McCabe decided he would use his junk truck to make deliveries from the Hillside Food Outreach food bank to seniors who weren't able to leave their homes.

As the pandemic grew worse, and both fear and food shortages grew, the demands on Hillside Food Outreach went up over 1,000 percent. McCabe and his company stepped up to the challenge, and incorporated food bank deliveries into their regular junk runs.

"Tom McCabe has always given back to his community," said his Local Hero nominator, Nicole Odziewa. "In previous jobs, he spent a lot of time working closely with the United Way. At Junk King, he also always sorts through the items his crew picks up at their junk removal jobs to see what can be donated to Goodwill, Salvation Army and other local charities. He wants these items to have another life while helping to reduce the amount of waste in landfills."

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