What is Hunger Action Month?

Welcome to The Core, Food Bank For New York City’s new blog! We created this space to dive a little deeper into the subjects, stories, and stakeholders that power our mission. You may be familiar with Food Bank as the city's largest hunger relief organization, but our work actually spans a great deal more. So, The Core will give you insight into how we operate, who we serve, and what kinds of impact we make across all five boroughs of the greatest city in the world. But don’t worry, we won’t just be talking about New York! Anyone and everyone with a hunger for food justice, equity, and advocacy will find a home here where they can learn new ideas and read some fantastic stories. To that end, we’ll have content covering a variety of subjects, including: Activism, Nutrition + Health, Financial Empowerment, and Stories from the Field. So, let’s meet these categories and figure out how we use them here at Food Bank and what they’ll mean to you. Activism Activism is at the heart of everything we do. To fight hunger is to actively fight poverty, which includes standing up for and supporting low-income New Yorkers and their families. This means not only getting them the resources they need to survive and thrive, but also advocating for policies that serve their best interests. So, we’ll be tagging stories that deal with both activism and advocacy in the hunger space. We’ll share information about the fights we’re taking on and the ones waging at the local, state, and federal levels. To get involved with our own efforts, join Food Bank’s action team. Nutrition + Health Another important facet of our work is nutrition, specifically as it relates to education, health and equity. Our nutrition program focuses on teaching folks how to establish and maintain healthy habits on a limited budget, which helps to fight hunger while addressing some of poverty’s key contributing factors – in both the short and long term. So, we’ll be giving you your fill of yummy recipes, nutrition tips, and resources exploring the relationships between food, health, culture, and poverty. Food Assistance In this category, we’ll explore not only the topic of food assistance, but also SNAP benefits and enrollment as well as insights into the various factors that impact emergency food providers across the city. We want to make it as easy as possible for people to find food whenever they need it. To do that, we’ve created an array of tools New Yorkers can use to source free meals and connect with local pantries and soup kitchens for immediate food assistance. If you’re looking for food assistance now, check out our virtual food locator. Financial Empowerment Financial empowerment refers to the sense of security that comes from being in control of one’s finances. Have you ever been down to your last 20 bucks, with more month to go before your next check? Not a great feeling. Well, for many low-income New Yorkers, living in a city as expensive as ours makes that feeling a constant companion. To help the New Yorkers we serve feel more financially empowered, we offer an array of financial resources, from free tax assistance for the working poor to SNAP enrollment and community-based financial coaching. We designed these tools because the truth is, fighting hunger takes more than food. If there’s a change in tax policy that could impact New Yorkers or if we’re leading a free (virtual) workshop on financial management, we’ll make sure to cover it here. We’ll also provide tips anyone can use to become a better budgeter! Research The hunger space is a dynamic one, so it’s important to stay on top of all the latest research to ensure that our messaging is current to our cause and relevant to our communities. Food Bank’s proprietary research has long been industry-leading, but we also rely on reports from other prominent institutions to inform the work we do. To keep you up-to-date, we’ll be sharing all of our latest research findings on this blog. Stories from the Field Here, we’ll feature photographs, interviews, and videos from the field. We work with over 1,000 food pantries, soup kitchens, and schools across the city, and our partners on the ground are the ones who keep this whole operation running. And trust us – they've got plenty of stories to tell! We’ll also share stories from those who experience hunger firsthand so that you can better understand what food insecurity actually looks like. To make sure you never miss a single anecdote, hit subscribe to get fresh updates on The Core as soon as they arrive.

It’s National Volunteer Month, which means it’s the perfect time to join us in the fight against hunger! Thankfully, there are a ton of ways to get involved, from putting in shifts at a local soup kitchen to advocating for hunger relief on social media. For a little inspiration, check out our guide below, which outlines some easy ways to leverage your talents to combat food insecurity. Join a Virtual Service Event Though not all onsite volunteer opportunities are back up and running yet, there are still a number of ways to get involved with hunger relief virtually. In fact, many organizations like ours have been holding virtual volunteer events throughout the pandemic to connect folks and galvanize for action. Click here to join Food Bank’s next virtual service event on 4/21! Support a Local Pantry When giving back, it’s always best to keep things local. So, use our Food Finder Map to locate one of our member food pantries or soup kitchens in your neighborhood that you can support. It’s a great way to fight hunger and show up for the folks in your neck of the woods. Write a Letter to a New Yorker in Need During challenging times, a kind note can make a huge impact in someone’s life. While we're not currently accepting onsite volunteer assistance at our Community Kitchen, our “Dear New York” program allows you to interact with our clients in a safe, socially distant way. Simply write a letter and we’ll slip it into one of our to-go pantry bags. To get started, check out our “Dear New York” toolkit. Use Social Media An easy way to make a difference in the fight against hunger is to get the word out on social media. Our Social Media Ambassador Program encourages volunteers to use their platforms to educate people on our mission and the state of food insecurity in NYC. As we’ve seen throughout 2020, social media has transformed into a lifeline for folks looking to start important conversations and share resources. Go on a Food Rescue Mission There are many restaurants, cafés, and grocery stores that throw away perfectly good food at the end of the business day, either because it’s not shelf-stable or because it’s company policy. As you can imagine, this creates a huge surplus of food that’s completely going to waste. To help save these resources and redistribute them to organizations that can use them, consider going on a food rescue mission! Groups like Food Rescue US can help you come up with your rescue plan. Advocate for Hunger Relief There’s never been a better time to advocate for hunger relief at the federal level. President Biden has made it clear that combatting food insecurity is a major priority for his administration, which presents a great opportunity for you to use your voice to impact national policy. Join our action team to send letters to your members of Congress in support of legislation that expands food assistance nationwide.

Time flies when you’re having fun and making an impact doesn’t it? In honor of National Volunteer Month, Food Bank threw a celebration for the amazing individuals who give their time, resources, and talents to help us empower every New Yorker to achieve food security for good. Can we get a round of applause? Food Bank staff celebrated our amazing volunteers. This year’s annual Volunteer Appreciation Party was a night to remember! The room was buzzing with energy as we commemorated a year of hard work, dedication, and commitment to serving our neighbors in need. Volunteers, their friends, and Food Bank Staff enjoyed a memorable night of food, fun, and gratitude. Food Bank recognized volunteers who have gone above and beyond to serve our mission, recognizing their dedication and commitment with Libby Awards. Nicole, Director, Volunteer Engagement thanking volunteers. To all of our incredible volunteers – thank you. Thank you for your passion, your hard work, and your unwavering commitment to making New York City a better place for everyone. We couldn't do this without you, and we're so honored to have you as part of our Food Bank family. Food Bank volunteers reveled at The Slate. Cheers to another year of fighting hunger and empowering our communities, together! Cheers to the 2024 volunteer season! Without further ado, we present to you the following exceptional individuals and organizations who have left an indelible mark on our organization… Joanie Wang, Volunteer of the Year Joanie always arrives early and gets right to work. She’s come to know the process of our pantry distribution so well that she is able to anticipate our needs. And her work doesn’t stop at serving in our pantry – Joanie has served more than 180 hours across four Food Bank programs in just the past year! For this, we honored Joanie with our Volunteer of the Year award. Unfortunately, Joanie could not attend, so our Director of Volunteer Engagement, Nicole Harrison, accepted the award on Joanie’s behalf. Stop & Shop, Outstanding Corporate Partner This year we presented our Outstanding Corporate Partner award to Stop & Shop. We cannot express how grateful we are to each of the Stop & Shop staff members who have joined us on the ground at our Mobile Pantry and pop-up distributions across the five boroughs. We also thank them for the 2,500 turkeys they donated to ensure our neighbors could serve robust meals this Thanksgiving. Our Mobile Pantry Director, Chantel Peters, joined our Manager of Volunteer Engagement, Aaliyah Cardenas, to present the award to Shannon Karafian, accompanied by volunteer Denise Johnson, to accept on behalf of Stop & Shop. We are so grateful for their continued service and partnership! Johanna Goldman, Outstanding Community Kitchen & Food Pantry Volunteer Johanna always comes to our Community Kitchen & Food Pantry with the enthusiasm to help where it is needed most, putting her all into the work that she does. In the past year, Johanna has served over 200 hours in our Food Pantry! Unfortunately, Johanna could not attend so the Associate Director of our Community Kitchen & Food Pantry, Sam Burgos, accepted the award on Johanna’s behalf. P.S. M79 – Horan School, Outstanding Community Kitchen & Food Pantry Partner The Horan School empowers individuals with developmental and learning disabilities by creating equitable opportunities for their students to encourage their engagement within the community. Since they have begun serving with us, they have served more than 540 hours in our pantry. We so appreciate the dedication, commitment, and compassion their group has exemplified in our Food Pantry, and we are proud to be presenting them with this award. Debbie-Ann Morrison, Outstanding Warehouse Volunteer While our Repack Programming has previously been geared towards groups of 10 our more, we’ve recently begun hosting shifts to invite individuals and families to help us better support our warehouse. Debbie-Ann has served with Food Bank since before the pandemic hit in March 2020. We thank her for sticking by us in times of adversity and committing to empowering our neighbors. We are proud to honor her with our Outstanding Warehouse Volunteer award! Juliana Musonda, Outstanding Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) Volunteer Juliana’s positive attitude allowed us to provide quality tax preparation service without stress and her can-do attitude and willingness to be challenged is a testimony of her character. She has gone above and beyond this year, filing 150 returns and secured $249,803 in refunds to our neighbors. We are so grateful for her service and are proud to present her with the Outstanding VITA Volunteer award! Johanna could not attend so the Associate Director of our VITA Coordinator, Erika Landi, accepted the award on Juliana’s behalf. St. John’s University and Queensborough Community College (QCC), Outstanding VITA Partner This year, St. John’s and QCC students have come together to file over 1,100 returns putting more than $1,500,000 back into the pockets of New Yorkers city-wide. We are beyond grateful for everything our partners have done to encourage students to get involved in our VITA program. Professors Nina Dorata and Mark Ulrich accepted the awards on the schools’ behalf. Deliverance Baptist Church, Outstanding Mobile Pantry Partner Since the Mobile Pantry program’s inception, Deliverance Baptist Church has hosted the most distributions and served the most families, providing crucial resources and food to over 9,000 households. Food Bank honors the many ways DBC has continued to show up for food insecure New Yorkers. Unfortunately, Deliverance Baptist Church could not attend so our Mobile Pantry Team, Melissa Pino and Chantel Peters, accepted the award on Johanna’s behalf. To get involved and volunteer, email us at volunteer@foodbanknyc.org. Volunteers with Zac Hall, Senior Vice President of Programs at Food Bank For New York City. Raffle items included an autographed Henrik Lundquist jersey. Catering by Slate.