Feeding Westchester works hard to make a difference in our community and support our neighbors in leading healthy, happy lives. Assisting people in need has become a bigger feat during the COVID-19 pandemic because many families are facing income loss and are making difficult decisions surrounding work, caregiving, and financial responsibilities.
As always, we have been wholeheartedly dedicated to helping people in need throughout Westchester County during the pandemic. In answering the call to support our neighbors during this challenging time, Feeding Westchester proudly secured and distributed 17 million meals so far this year.
We welcome support to help us assist our community through COVID-19 difficulties and beyond. A few ways to directly support our efforts include individual food donations, community food drives, volunteering from home during the holiday season, designating Feeding Westchester as your organization via AmazonSmile, and giving monetary gifts.
Interested in understanding how monetary donations directly fuel our mission? Learn how Feeding Westchester stretches donations to support our neighborhoods in need.
1. Monetary donations are used to resourcefully secure food.
Monetary donations are put to good use by enabling us to purchase in-demand food items at wholesale. Feeding Westchester has developed long-standing relationships with major manufacturers, retailers, and other partners, and we’re able to work directly with these partners to secure healthy food at a fraction of the cost that it retails for.
Buying in bulk is cheaper and often a more practical way for nonprofits to secure food items. In fact, every dollar donated to Feeding Westchester provides three meals to hungry people.
Our membership in Feeding America’s nationwide network of food banks gives us access to food through national vendors, producers, and other food banks across the country. While the food itself is often donated, the generosity of donors is one way that we pay for the transportation costs associated with securing these food donations.
2. Monetary donations help build healthier communities.
While it’s crucial that food pantries and soup kitchens have their shelves stocked with shelf-stable items such as rice, tuna, and canned veggies, food-insecure people also need fresh foods in their diets to live healthily. Hunger-relief agencies like ours cannot accept fresh-food items such as produce, low-fat dairy, lean proteins, and bread through food drives, so we use monetary donations in part to purchase these foods and distribute them to people in need.
Monetary donations also help us to combat food waste. Feeding Westchester’s food recovery program saves millions of pounds of fresh, perfectly good food nearing their expiration dates from landfills, and instead distributing it to families in need.
Feeding Westchester is committed to providing local hungry families with fresh, nutritious produce. We’re proud that fruits and vegetables make up around 49% of the food we distribute.
3. Monetary gifts help us address Westchester’s specific needs.
Monetary donations are used for items immediately needed in our community.
Food banks often will have influxes of certain types of foods while being low on others. For instance, one month we might be low on jars of peanut butter, then the next month we might be in need of cans of creamed corn and cranberry sauce to distribute holiday meal kits to people we serve.
The immediate needs of our neighbors are constantly changing, and the circumstances that hunger-relief agencies face in securing food can change as well. For example, Feeding Westchester has had to adapt its operations during the COVID-19 pandemic due to changes in the supply chain. There have been many items that we have not been able to procure as easily this year.
All in all, monetary donations are used to acquire whatever is most needed by families looking for support. These are just a few of the ways that monetary donations are put to great use in helping our community.
Feeding Westchester has been working hard to tackle hunger from all angles during this challenging time. Click here to learn more about our food assistance options that are helping people struggling amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Join us in the fight against hunger. Learn more about the ways that you can make an impact in the Westchester County community.
