The Food Bank for Westchester is marking Hunger Action Month through two events geared toward bringing the community closer together.
The organization hosted its 14th annual Conference of Member Agencies Sept. 12, welcoming Rick Rakow, Food Bank for Westchester board chairman, and keynote speaker Joel Berg, executive director of the New York City Coalition Against Hunger, who discussed improving the quality of soup kitchens, food pantries and other food distribution sites in the county.
Professional development workshops focused on strategies to more effectively and efficiently feed their clients, Katie Carpenter, the food bank”™s senior director of development, said.
The food bank will also host the Southern Westchester Food and Wine Festival in Scarsdale on Sept. 22 to highlight volunteer activities for the community. These include corporate events such as the Golden Scoop competition, in which the company that packs the most amount of food in one hour wins a trophy. A breakfast sponsored by the food bank recognizes corporations”™ good deeds and helps galvanize team support and company morale, Carpenter said.
Corporate sponsorship and volunteerism has increased over the years at the food bank, which distributes more than 7 million pounds of food annually to 230 frontline hunger-relief programs. Last year, 1,818 corporate volunteers contributed 4,934 hours of community service to the Food Bank for Westchester. This year, 2,612 corporate volunteers contributed 6,919 hours, Carpenter said.
Food centers that receive distributions from the agency see a growing need to draw volunteers not just from the community but through corporations as well.
“Our local and regional partners recognize that hunger affects one in five Westchester residents,” Rakow said. “It could very well be affecting some of their own employees. With September being Hunger Action Month, we encourage businesses looking for a way to give back to reach out to us and see how you can help.”
Last year, the food bank acquired a 32,000-square-foot warehouse in Elmsford, which allowed them to store more non-perishable goods and fresh produce as well as increase the volunteer capacity on site. Corporate sponsorships represented more than 15 percent of the donations the food bank received from June 2012 to this past July, a 4 percent increase from the corporate funding received from 2011 to 2012.
The food bank is ahead of the national trend. On average, corporate giving amounted to 5 percent of total donations to philanthropies, according to Giving USA, a report compiled annually by the American Association of Fundraising Counsel.
“There is no question that our partnerships with local, regional and national organizations are paramount to our ability to deliver on our mission,” Ellen Lynch, executive director of Food Bank for Westchester, said. “From technical and logistical support to delivering thousands of volunteers to us each year who help us with manpower that we would never be able to pay for, we are fortunate to have the support of so many businesses and corporations.”
