End Hunger CT is staffed by several women including Executive Director Julieth Callejas. It is a non-profit organization that works toward providing every child, teen, adult with access to healthy food. This organization was founded in 2001 as a state nonprofit that strives to eliminate hunger and promote nutrition.
It is an organization that could represents Women's History Month in March. It has women addressing food insecurity in the state and finding innovative solutions.
They promote nutrition to schools, community organization, farms, and food service businesses. They have SNAP assistance, Summer Meal Program, School Breakfast Program, The Supper Program, and a few others.
Julieth Callejas and End Hunger CT
Julieth Callejas served as the Interim Director before she became the Executive Director. She provides leadership and strategic thinking to all their programs. Julieth is Native American and Hispanic. She is Columbian and from Kiloka Playa Verde. She speaks Spanish and English.
She has experience with programs that address food insecurity in poor communities. She has worked for CT Summer Meals, Child and Adult Care Food, at day care sites, for after school meal programs, and HUD housing.
During the pandemic she discovered food panties were not used efficiently to provide food to meet customers needs. She organized an buying group to design pricing contracts for an estimated 30% of food needs not covered by existing food banks or included in the donation process.
The program assisted food pantries with networking and buying in bulk for reduced cost. There are over 800 food pantries in CT. They helped about 200 during this time.
Another program the organization worked on was CT Fresh Match Program. They worked with the CT Department of Agriculture to increase the purchases of produce by funding the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. This helped poor communities buy produce from farm markets. Seven farm markets in Bridgeport participated in the program.
The programs Julieth Callejas works on for End CT Hunger connects people and organizations to resources for food that encourage wholesale selling and buying. They try to provide poor communities access to healthy food. Many families do not have heat in their apartments and only hot plates and small dorm size refrigerators.
Julieth Callejas has a passion for resolving the issues of hunger and nutrition. She is described as a hard worker and has gone back to school to get further education. She wants to help poor and indigenous communities get the services they need for healthy meals.
Other Programs Sponsored By End Hunger CT
The CT Summer Meals Program is funded by USDA. In CT it is also funded by the state Department of Education. It provides free meals to kids in the summer with milk, fruit, vegetables, grains, and meat from June to August at local sites including breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks.
The School Breakfast Program is funded by USDA and Nutrition Services. It is run by state agencies too. It operates in public, private, and residential institutions. It provided low cost or free breakfast to all children to ensure learning and healthy eating. Some programs are delivered to vending machines and there are meal deliveries to cafeterias and classrooms in schools.
The Supper Program provides meals to after school enrichment programs in CT. They try to provide a healthy meal after school to kids during the school year. The organization works with Farmers markets in CT and organizations addressing basic human needs.
Overall End Hunger CT provides innovative programs for poor communities to provide access to healthy food for children and families.
References
End Hunger CT Website, East Hartford, CT 2025
CT Agency Pushing for Funding For Free Meal For All School Children, by Allison Cross, Hartford Courant, January 14, 2023
End CT Hunger partners with 800 Agencies to Addresses food Insecurity Throughout the State, by Deidre Montaque, Hartford Courant, May 19, 2022
Rise In Food Insecurity Drives Innovative Strategies, by Elizabeth Hubeck, Connecticut Watch'd, August 15, 2022
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