Feeding Westchester - September is Hunger Action Month

September is Hunger Action Month, which is dedicated to bringing awareness to hunger and inspiring our community to get involved in hunger relief efforts. Food shouldn’t be an impossible choice – yet, as you well know, for many of our Westchester neighbors, a daily meal is just that: a choice. A choice between food and other critical needs like medicine, electricity, childcare. No one should have to make those choices.

The need in Westchester for food is still significantly more than it was prior to the pandemic – and with the added uncertainty of the Delta variant, we anticipate the need will remain high for many months, even years, to come:

• Prior to COVID-19, our network of nearly 300 community partners and programs had been serving and average of 125,000 to 150,000 individuals each month.
• During the height of the pandemic, that number more than doubled, with over 350,000 served in May 2020.
• Currently, we are still serving an average of 225,000 each month.

We are encouraging the entire Westchester community to get involved this September (and beyond) by educating themselves and others about hunger, and getting involved by donating, volunteering, or simply advocating and sharing their support – and we would love for you to get involved, too!

Here is a link to our Hunger Action Month Toolkit and outlined below a few ways you, your team, and the community can get involved, and activations we have planned during September (all of which and more can be found on our resource page here):

• Go Orange – Throughout the month, or on Hunger Action Day, Friday, September 17, wear orange to show your support for hunger relief.
• • Take a photo, share it on social, and hashtag #FeedingWestchester #HungerActionMonth
  • Encourage your friends, family, colleagues to do the same and share, as well!
• Hunger Action Month Food Drive – Happening all month, we’ll be collecting various items with a drive-thru drop off happening on Friday, September 17, at our distribution center in Elmsford. We are aiming to fill 30 Bins in 30 Days!
• Share Support on Social – In the toolkit, we provide sample messages, hashtags, and our resource page has images that can be used on your organization’s or own social media channels. A simple but effective way to spread awareness and encourage involvement!

feedingwestchester.org/hungeractionmonth