When it comes to Supe r Bowl Sunday, most people think about two things: football and food. But for some people who might be struggling to make ends meet, it migh t not be such a “super” Super Bowl Sunday, after all. The New Fairfield Leos Club is determined to change all that, by holding a canned food drive to benefit the New Fairfield Food Pantry.

Doing good deeds is nothing new for the New Fairfield Leos Club, which prides itself on helping the community. “Before Covid, we did a food drive that we hel d in front of Stop N Shop,” says Patty Neal-Petrillo, a New Fairfield Leos Club Mentor. “It was one of the largest food drives that had been done for the NF Food Pantry.” The organization collected so much food that they not only restocked the Food Pantry’s shelves, but they were actually over capacity.

Come this year, the NF Leos Club decided once again to hold a food drive to benefit the NF Food Pantry. Together with the New Fairfield Lions Club, the idea for the “Football Sunday Soup-er Bowl” was born. The Leos will be collecting cans of soup and other non-perishable items outside of the New Fairfield Senior Center on February 12 and 13, from 9:00-11:00 a.m. each day. “With the pandemic and cost of living increasing, there has been a definite need to have assistance in multiple ways,” says Neal-Petrillo. “Soup is a great go-to meal; it’s nutritious, warms you from the inside and out, and is easy to pick up and donate.”

An international organization, the Lions Club and the Leos Club have thousands of members all over the world. No matter where they’re from, all Leos and Lion s have the same motto: “Where there’s a need, there’s a Leo or a Lion.” To that end, the New Fairfield Leos Club helps other organizations in the area as well as farther away to help raise funds or perform community service. The Leos Club has helped each year with the popular Breakfast with Santa event as well as the annual carnival that comes to town. “Our club is an organization where you can do good things for the community, earn community service hours, and always have fun,” says Neal-Petrillo. “It’s really a win/win situation.”

The New Fairfield Leos Club is always looking ahead to see where they can help the community next. Their next goal: to help pediatric cancer patients. They’ll raise funds in order to purchase items to donate. Explains Neal-Petrillo: “We’ll have a table outside of Elmer’s sometime in March and see how much we can raise to help fill the toy closets in the hospitals.”

But for right now, the New Fairfield Leos Club is solely focused on soup—and other shelf-stable items—as part of its Football Sunday Soup-er Bowl food drive. “New Fairfield is an amazing community—they come out and help their neighbors even when they don’t know who their neighbors are,” says Neal-Petrillo. “We’re hoping they will come out and help those in need to help this food drive a success, not just for the Leos and the Lions, but to help the community as well.”

By Jennifer Parris