The Food Bank for Westchester is now Feeding Westchester, a name the Elmsford nonprofit said better communicates its role in the county.
The change comes as the organization is celebrating its 30th year in business. The food bank runs a network with more than 300 partners that provide food directly to 200,000 county residents struggling with hunger. That work has Feeding Westchester distribute 7.5 million meals annually to Westchester”™s soup kitchens, shelters, day cares and other programs.
“Our name is changing, but our mission, our work and our board and staff remains the same,” said Leslie Gordon, Feeding Westchester”™s president and CEO.
The nonprofit said it conducted extensive research and worked with national experts on the new brand strategy, which is intended to connect the organization to a national fight against hunger.
“We are Westchester”™s largest hunger relief program and are responsible for 95 percent of food provided to those who are hungry in the county,” Gordon said in a statement on Thursday. “We efficiently invest in storage infrastructure ”“ like freezers, refrigerators and trucks ”“ so that our agency partners don”™t have to, freeing them to focus on serving our neighbors who are hungry. We also safely recover nutritious food that would otherwise go to waste ”“ and we are truly committed to providing people with good, nutritious meals. We make feeding Westchester possible.”
Feeding Westchester said it”™s in the second year of a strategic plan, with a final goal of distributing 10.5 million pounds of food, about 9.3 million meals, annually by 2021.
The name change was announced in a press release sent to the media around noon today. Mother Nature prevented the organization from announcing its new name with more fanfare. Three different snow storms forced Feeding Westchester to push back press conferences for a “major announcement” from March 7 to March 13, then again to March 21, before finally being called off altogether.
The nonprofit”™s press release included words of support from Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano, White Plains Mayor Thomas Roach, Chair of the Westchester County Board of Legislators Ben Boykin and County Executive George Latimer.
“Feeding Westchester is an excellent name for an organization that does just that,” Latimer said. “The work they do serves the often forgotten residents of our county who work hard to feed themselves and their families, and rely on the help this organization can provide.”
