Organizations Fighting Hunger in NYC
New York City is one of the culinary capitals of the world, yet 1.4 million New Yorkers are currently struggling to put food on the table. Luckily, there are numerous organizations tackling various food system shortcomings and doing incredible work to alleviate hunger in New York. Here are a few of those organizations and information on how you can get involved in their efforts.
What they do: City Harvest was at the forefront of the food rescuing movement in 1982. Through relationships with restaurants, grocers, farms, and manufacturers, City Harvest collects nutritious food that would otherwise go to waste. Today the organization rescues around 150,000 pounds of food daily and delivers it, free of charge, to 500 community food programs across the 5 boroughs of NYC. City Harvest also takes a long term approach to hunger alleviation through the Healthy Neighborhood Initiative, a program designed to increase the availability of affordable produce in communities with high rates of food insecurity and inspire healthy food choices through nutrition education.
How you can get involved: There are many ways to contribute to City Harvest’s efforts. You can donate food, contribute funds by starting a virtual food drive or running the NYC marathon, volunteer at markets or with food rescues, attend an event such as the 35th anniversary gala, as well participate in many other everyday opportunities.
What they do: Almost 20% of New Yorkers rely on the food bank, making it the largest hunger-relief organization in New York. Through its vast network of over 1,000 charities and schools throughout the city, the Food Bank for New York City provides approximately 64 million free meals a year.
How you can get involved: You can volunteer with the Food Bank for New York City by signing up to prepare and serve meals, giving a donation, or helping to advocate for anti-hunger policies.
What they do: Community Food Advocates (CFA) works to promote policies that strengthen food and income support for New Yorkers. CFA’s work focuses on school lunches, school breakfast, summer meals, SNAP, WIC, and cash assistance.
How you can get involved: Read up on CFA’s policy efforts and donate here.
What they do: Harlem Grown’s mission is to inspire youth to live healthy and ambitious lives through mentorship and hands-on education. To do this, the organization provides educational programming for Harlem Youth on urban farming, food justice, nutrition, and sustainability at its farms and gardens as well as at schools.
How you can get involved: You can work with Harlem Grown by becoming a farm volunteer or an intern. You can also donate to Harlem Grown here.
What they do: East New York Farms is an incredibly multifaceted organization with two weekly farmers markets, three farms, a mini-grant program, a Youth Internship Program and a Community Educator program that holds cooking demonstrations. The organization aims to organize people of all ages to address food justice issues in their communities.
How you can get involved: East New York Farms holds open volunteer days on the 1st and 3rd Saturdays of every month from April to October. You can also contribute to their early childhood program bake sales, distribute flyers, and help elementary school children with their homework.
What they do: Greenmarket Farmer’s Markets (part of GrowNYC) has a twofold mission: to promote local agriculture and to provide New Yorkers with nutritious locally grown food. To do this, they they run a network of farmers markets, youthmarkets, and Fresh Food Box pick-ups, and they work to support local farms by providing business and technical assistance and training and mentorship opportunities.
How you can get involved: You can become a volunteer with Greenmarket, buy greenmarket bucks to distribute to staff and volunteers to purchase healthy food, or give a donation.
This is by no means a comprehensive list of hunger relief organizations in New York. Check out this list of volunteering opportunities for more ways to get involved in hunger relief efforts. At Foodshed.io we realize that access to fresh, local produce has become a luxury and we hope to do our part to help alleviate hunger in New York.
