Several years ago I was on the Board of the community action plan for greater Middletown (hmm did that make me a community activist?). Anyway, I also worked at Aetna at the time, in the Middletown office that employed around 3,500 workers.

I approached Aetna management about donating surplus food from our cafeteria, to St. Vincent DePaul. Aetna looked into it, and reported that Connecticut law wouldn’t permit it. If prepared food (hot meals, burgers, pasta, veggies, etc) was prepared but left unserved, by Connecticut law it had to be thrown out. Johnny Cash got it about right –

I bet there’s rich folks eatin’,
In a fancy dining car,
They’re probably drinkin’ coffee,
And smokin’ big cigars,

The Aetna folks were eatin’ in the fancy cafeteria, all right. Still are. (no cigars though) Aetna does contribute a fair amount of money to charities in Middletown thru its foundation. But cafeteria food is still being thrown away, every day. Something’s not right about that.

You act like people get sick from licensed places, like Jack in the Box.

Oh, wait…