Mike Mahoney from RLM Co. organized a donation from West Hartford Center property owners in support of Foodshare.

By Ronni Newton

Mike Mahoney, owner of commercial real estate company RLM Co., saw how successful the West Hartford Center Business Association’s We Care Card fundraiser was last fall, and decided that the building owners also needed to give back.

In December 2017, the West Hartford Center Business Association presented Foodshare with a check for $10,000, raised through the sale of cards that provided discounts at participating merchants in the Center and Blue Back Square.

On Jan. 30, 2018, Mahoney presented Foodshare with a check for $8,000, which will help provide 20,000 meals to the hungry and food insecure in Hartford and Tolland counties.

“I was motivated by the fact that the merchants raised so much through the We Care Card,” Mahoney said. “I thought it was appropriate that the owners, who have so many food establishments in their buildings, also donate.”

The $8,000 in donations collected came from his own company as well as S.B. Andrews Company, Clark Properties, Udolf Properties, and the Kaoud family, Mahoney said.

“I can’t thank Mike Mahoney of RLM Company enough for this donation,” said Foodshare President and CEO Jason Jakubowski. “This is a great example of how the local business community comes together to help ensure that our neighbors who struggle with hunger have access to enough healthy food.”

“I love the fact that the money stays here. People just don’t know how many hungry people there are,” Mahoney said.

Mahoney said he really likes Foodshare’s method of distribution through food trucks, that just drive up and hand out food, no questions asked. People can be embarrassed if they can’t afford to buy food, and he appreciates the “inclusiveness” of this method.

Mahoney said he and his family have personally been longtime donors, and he is also honoring the legacy of his parents who were also Foodshare supporters.

Foodshare will be able to make the $8,000 donation go far, and it will translate into 20,000 meals. “They will multiply this money into meals like we never could do,” he said.

For more information about Foodshare, visit the organization’s website.

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