Over the past three years, food insecurity has become a growing concern for too many Americans. Between the supply chain disruptions during the pandemic and inflation-fueled price spikes on supermarket items, the availability and cost of food has created waves of stress in households across the nation.
Not surprisingly, food pantries have seen a dramatic increase in new inquiries from people who cannot afford to feed their households. Within Westchester, the Mount Kisco Interfaith Food Pantry is supported by 14 faith-based congregations to provide food aid to the town”™s residents and those in the neighboring localities.
Last month, the organization named Trina Fontaine as its first full-time executive director. Fontaine is no stranger to running nonprofits ”” she was previously senior development director at the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation”™s Greater New York Chapter ”” and she is also an expert with the financial services world through her analyst work at Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch. She was well acquainted with the pantry prior to taking on her new role.
“I”™ve been familiar with the organization for probably about 20 years,” she said. “I am a parishioner at St. Stephen”™s Episcopal Church here in Mount Kisco, and we are one of the 14 congregational members that support the pantry. I”™ve been involved from the beginning in terms of volunteering by helping out at the food distributions, and I spent a couple of years representing St. Stephen”™s on the board. And my husband does home deliveries ”” I”™ve done home deliveries recently, so I”™ve always been very aware of it.”
Fontaine praised the pantry”™s ability to respond to the socioeconomic challenges of the past three years, observing that it was able to meet a doubling in demand with a mostly all-volunteer staff.
The pantry is open to the public on Wednesdays between 3:30 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. and later from 9:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m., with home deliveries made on Thursdays.
“We are the only weekly choice pantry, which means that people go through and ”” based on the size of their family ”” they are able to choose certain quantities of various proteins, vegetables, fruit groups, carbs, etc. that they want,” she said “They”™re not just like given a bag. And the other thing unique about us is the quality of the food that we serve ”” we are very committed to providing nutritious food. We have a lot of produce and the quality of our protein is high.”
The Mount Kisco Interfaith Food Pantry works with local supermarkets, restaurants and food wholesalers to stock its shelves, and Fontaine also credited the nonprofit Feeding Westchester for being an important supplier to her organization and similar initiatives in the region.
“They provide many different food pantries in the area with food, and at very reasonable prices,” she said. “We”™re able to purchase food more affordably through them than we would if we had to go to a supermarket. That being said, because of the demand for food we are not always able to get enough of the high-quality provisions that we like to include for our guests.”
While the pantry has traditionally placed an emphasis on cash donations that would enable it to purchase food from Feeding Westchester, Fontaine admitted that “these days we need more food” and, thus, works with food drives sponsored by local schools and community groups to help maintain a full inventory.
But with inflation remaining stuck at elevated heights and food prices showing no immediate evidence of declining, the pantry”™s board opted to bring on Fontaine as a full-time executive director rather than continue with a volunteer-driving endeavor. In her new capacity, Fontaine will be tapping into her Wall Street skill set to focus on funding development and collaborations within the community that will help to strengthen its organizational infrastructure. She noted that while the 14 congregations supporting the pantry “responded very generously during Covid,” the inflation-burdened economy resulted in a rise in expenses while revenue input softened.
Fontaine stressed that fund development will be a priority for the coming year, with a focus on building a more diversified revenue stream.
“I have experience with special events, individual giving and grants,” she said, adding that she will also prioritize “helping to streamline our operations and taking a look analytically of where we can be, hopefully saving some money by working to do things more efficiently and collaborating with the community. I think everybody”™s resources are strained, whether they”™re serving people with food or other services, and I think there are nice opportunities to collaborate with other nonprofits in the area.”
And while the pantry has operated mostly with volunteers, Fontaine added she was “hoping to attract volunteers with all sorts of different skills, and people who might be interested in leadership positions on committees and, maybe eventually, the board.”
