LETTER: Serving Soup One Day, Cutting Funding The Next

By Matt Despard

ENFIELD, CT — Enfield is a community that prides itself on neighbors helping neighbors. That’s why it matters when elected officials show up for photo ops at Loaves & Fishes after voting to cut the very funding that keeps the pantry’s doors open.

This isn’t about degrading anyone or dismissing their years of volunteer work, it’s about accountability. You can serve meals at Loaves & Fishes and still have supported a decision that makes it harder for the pantry to keep those meals coming. Those two truths can coexist and they deserve to be named.

Public service must be about more than good optics during campaign season. Residents facing food insecurity don’t just need smiling volunteers for an afternoon, they need consistent funding and leaders who will protect the programs that help keep them afloat.

Recently, a Republican councilor publicly bristled when this contradiction was pointed out on social media. If being reminded of a vote feels personal or “degrading,” that may be less about the criticism and more about the vote itself. Service to the community is measured not only by what we do with our hands, but also by what we do with our votes.

Enfield deserves elected officials whose policies match the image they present to the public, not just during campaign season, but every day of the year.

Matt Despard
Enfield

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