Food Bank for Westchester Awarded Grants To Fight Child Hunger

July 2, 2012 - PRLog -- The Thomas & Agnes Carvel Foundation led in support of the BackPack Program, a Feeding America trademarked initiative, with a grant for $10,000. Donations of $5,000 each came from the Ronald McDonald House Charities, Citizens Bank, the KeyBank Foundation and People’s Bank.

Children who are hungry or at risk of hunger usually qualify for school meal programs, but they are at high risk of hunger on weekends and during school vacations. The BackPack Program supplies bags of nutritious, easily prepared foods to hungry children on weekends. The Food Bank for Westchester’s BackPack Program has more than doubled in size the past two years, from 15 sites to 39 currently, supplying 2,194 bags of food to children every other week.

“We are grateful to the Thomas & Agnes Carvel Foundation, the Ronald McDonald House Charities, Citizens Bank, the KeyBank Foundation and People’s Bank for their generous support,” said Food Bank for Westchester Executive Director Christina Rohatynskyj.
“Hungry children often grow up to be poor, unhealthy, unproductive adults. These grants will greatly help us fight child hunger here in Westchester.”

The Food Bank for Westchester estimates that 200,000 people in the county, or one in five Westchester residents, are hungry or at risk of hunger. A third of them are children under the age of 18.

The Food Bank for Westchester is located at 200 Clearbrook Road, Elmsford, NY 10523.