For the first time the shelves were bare, and Jason Jakubowski ’99 (CLAS), ’01 MPA was scared. If he didn’t think of something, tens of thousands of people would go hungry. “It was two weeks into the pandemic,” says Jakubowski. “We had never pumped out that much food in such a short period of time. We don’t do food drives. We don’t collect cans of food, like a lot of organizations do. Our donations come in bulk from the food industry. But the grocery stores and food wholesalers had bare shelves, too.” Jakubowski is the president and CEO of Connecticut Foodshare and is an adjunct professor in the Department of Public Policy. He says he gained a deep sense of empathy and an obligation to serve his community from his dad, a teacher, and his mom, a social worker.
UConn Magazine: ‘You Change the Way You Live When You’re Hungry’
Connecticut Foodshare CEO Jason Jakubowski '99 (CLAS), '01 MPA talks about the challenges of keeping people fed during a global pandemic
Connecticut Foodshare CEO Jason Jakubowski '99 (CLAS), '01 MPA (Peter Morenus / UConn Photo)
