The Inside Press

It’s one thing to be without power following this storm. Quite another to combine that kind of stress with hunger. With that thought in mind… Inside Chappaqua is earmarking a minimum of $1000 from its advertising revenue in the upcoming Winter 2012/13 edition to the Food Bank of Westchester. “Every $1 donated to the Food Bank enables us to bring $4 worth of food to families to soup kitchens and food pantries in the county,” states Katy Coppinger, senior director of development for the Food Bank . Thank you in advance to all the sponsors who help make an Inside Chappaqua Magazine donation possible. Readers can help too with a voluntary or gift subscription of $24 to Inside Chappaqua Magazine, P.O. Box 643, Millwood, NY 10546.  At this time, Inside Chappaqua will donate HALF of your subscription dollars from now to January 15, 2013 over any such subscription to that $1,000 amount to the Food Bank as well.

Continue to be safe and warm everyone.

— Grace

7 Facts about hunger in Westchester

• More than 200,000 people are hungry or at risk of hunger.
• 33% of the hungry neighbors are children.
• 51% are seniors.
• 57% are registered voters.
• 68% are U.S. citizens, many are veterans.
• 1% of the hungry are homeless
• 5% receive government assistance.
  

About the Food Bank for Westchester

The Food Bank for Westchester’s mission is to lead, engage and educate Westchester County residents in creating a hunger free environment.

The Food Bank for Westchester was incorporated as a not-for-profit 501 (c) 3 organization under the name of “Food People Allied To Combat Hunger Inc.” in 1988 to respond to the growing needs of hungry Westchester residents. The Food Bank has become the backbone of Westchester’s emergency food distribution network, providing over 95% of all the food distributed by over 220 grass roots programs such as food pantries, soup kitchens, shelters and residential programs, helping to feed some or all of the 200,000 Westchester seniors, children and their families who are hungry or at risk of hunger.

The Food Bank for Westchester distributes 7 million pounds of food per year; delivering 9 to 12 tons of food per day to front-line agencies feeding the hungry.  The core program of Emergency Food Distribution is augmented by the following:

• Project Green Thumb, which distributes bags of locally grown produce.
• Food Recovery Program, which collects prepared and perishable foods from restaurants, corporate cafeterias and supermarkets and delivers the food directly to meal-service programs.
• Food Growing Program, which grows produce on unused land using an available workforce.
• Kids Café, which provides children hot, nutritious meals after school.
• BackPack Program, which provides hungry, at-risk children with weekend bags of healthy food to get through the weekend.
• A program entitled Services, Training, Education and Participant Support (STEPS) provides low-income women with children the tools to better manage their families and self-esteem enhancement as the first steps toward self-sufficiency.
• Food Stamp Outreach is also provided by the Food Bank for Westchester

foodbankforwestchester.org