Hunger Action Month Campaign Aims to Inspire the Westchester Community to Get Involved and Ensure that Food Isn’t an Impossible Choice for Our Neighbors Facing Hunger
For Hunger Action Month® this September, Feeding Westchester joins Feeding America and other network member food banks to inspire people to take action and raise awareness of people facing the impossible choice of hunger. Food banks around the country are working to make a real and lasting impact on food insecurity in their communities, and they are asking for the public’s support.
September marks the 14th year Feeding America, the nation’s largest domestic hunger-relief organization with a nationwide network of 200 food banks, including Feeding Westchester and its nearly 300 community partners and meal programs, has organized the annual call to action. This year’s campaign presents the impossible choices that millions of Americans – including hundreds of thousands right here in Westchester – must make between food and other basic needs.
“This Hunger Action Month, we continue to see an incredibly increased need – one that has not diminished – for food across Westchester County,” said Karen C. Erren, President and CEO of Feeding Westchester. “The support of our community – donors, volunteers, advocates, corporate partners, community groups, retail recovery partners – is critical as we strive to educate and inspire others to get involved in hunger relief, and join us in our shared mission to nourish our neighbors in the fight against hunger.”
During the month of September, the Westchester community can get involved in the movement by learning, committing, and speaking up about ways to ending hunger, including:
- Take the challenge to help us Fill 30 Bins in 30 Days by donating food to our Hunger Action Month Food Drive
- Throughout the month, or on Hunger Action Day, Friday, September 17, wear orange to show your support for hunger relief – take a photo, share it on social, and hashtag #FeedingWestchester #HungerActionMonth
- Use your voice to advocate for local, state, and federal policies that support your neighbors in need, like ending child hunger
- Join us at local events, including Paws Crossed Animal Rescue’s 6th Annual Paws Crossed Day on Sunday, September 19 at 12 p.m. in Elmsford, and Westchester Magazine’s Wine & Food Festival Grand Tasting Village on Saturday, September 25 at 12 p.m. at Kensico Dam Plaza in Valhalla
“For many, a daily meal is a simple choice of what to eat,” said Claire Babineaux-Fontenot, CEO of Feeding America. “For people facing hunger, a daily meal poses a very different type of choice. It’s often an impossible decision between food or other crucial needs, such as electricity, childcare, or medicine. Nobody should be forced to make a choice to go hungry. With the public’s support, we can come together to help people achieve long-term food security, so they no longer have to make such tough decisions.”
Hunger Action Month is a time to mobilize to alleviate and end hunger. You can choose to donate or advocate. You can choose to volunteer or raise awareness. You can choose to help end hunger. Learn more about how you can take action today by visiting feedingwestchester.org/hungeractionmonth.
Every $1 donated to Feeding Westchester provides up to three meals for local children, seniors, and families struggling with hunger. To find help, or to give help, visit feedingwestchester.org or call (914) 923-1100. For the latest news and updates, follow @FeedingWestchester on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and @FeedWestchester on Twitter.
Hunger will persist in Westchester County, which this year had eight communities ranked on Bloomberg News’ 200 richest places in the U.S., the most of any county in the country. Westchester is home to Fortune 500 executives, to Regeneron Pharmaceuticals and MasterCard, IBM and Pepsico. But it, too, is also a place where the coronavirus took food off the tables of families who had never known that feeling before.
By one estimate, at the height of the crisis, one in five Westchester residents did not have enough to eat. And if it can happen in Westchester, it can happen anywhere. As one food banker puts it: “There’s no vaccine for hunger.”
