Peekskill, NY – New York State Senator Pete Harckham visited three key food pantries today that are facing unprecedented demands amid rising costs, shrinking federal assistance and widespread hardship for working families, seniors and single parents. 

The three food pantries Harckham toured were Putnam Community Action Partnership (Putnam CAP) in Brewster, Ossining Food Pantry in Ossining, and Fred’s Food Pantry, operated by Caring for the Hungry & Homeless of Peekskill (CHHOP).

To see Sen. Harckham’s video about the food pantry tour, click here.
 

“Food pantries serve as vital community lifelines when public-assistance programs fall short, are delayed or non-existent,” Harckham said. “With inflation climbing, energy bills soaring and the benefits of the SNAP interrupted, defunded and under long-term threat, food pantries have become the front line of defense for thousands of working people who can’t make ends meet.” 

Harckham added that the food insecurity crisis never abated after the COVID pandemic.

While visiting the three food pantries, Harckham was able to see firsthand the scale of need, meet the staff and volunteers, and spotlight both the challenges and successes of local food-security responses. 

During the food pantry tour Harckham announced that he would be sponsoring his 19th food drive from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 15, at St. Mark’s Church, 85 East Main Street, Mount Kisco, NY. The drive will benefit The Pantry in Mount Kisco. Harckham’s food drives since March 2020 have collected more than 26 tons of food and other items, plus nearly $14,000 in cash donations.

“We may not be able to replace the federal nutrition safety net, but every donation can help a working family keep food on the table,” Harckham said. “I invite residents to stop by their local food pantry with donations to help struggling families.”

The pantry visits came amid a growing food insecurity crisis, worsened by the Trump administration’s failure to fully fund SNAP benefits for more than 40 million Americans, including almost three million New Yorkers or about 14% of the state’s population. Gov. Kathy Hochul last week declared a Food Emergency and allocated $65 million to food pantries statewide as a stop-gap measure to address the growing crisis. 

In Westchester, Putnam and Rockland counties, many households are squeezed by multiple pressures: single parents juggling two or more jobs, seniors on fixed incomes seeing their grocery budgets eaten up by higher energy and medical costs and working families facing rising rents and utility bills. 

The defunding of SNAP benefits by the federal government amplifies this pressure. Food-pantry networks throughout New York are warning of “devastating consequences” as a result of an interruption of benefits.

Food pantries such as Putnam CAP, Ossining Food Pantry and Fred’s Pantry provide choice-based distributions, fresh produce, hygiene items and often support services such as home delivery and nutrition guidance.

As the scale of SNAP assistance and public benefit programs has grown more uncertain, these community-based operations have tried to fill in the gap for an already growing number of families in need, as shown below:

• Putnam CAP (Brewster) currently serves almost 500 families per week at its food-pantry operation.
• Ossining Food Pantry serves approximately 350-400 families each week in Ossining and Briarcliff Manor.
• Fred’s Pantry (Peekskill) serves around 100-125 families and over 400 individuals each week.
• In Putnam County, one report cited 8,270 food-insecure residents, including 1,270 children.
• In Westchester County, the regional network of pantries served between 260,000 and 300,000 individuals each month in recent years.
• In Rockland County, food-pantry and meal-program networks report serving over 33,000 people each month. 

Marisa O’Leary, Director of Putnam CAP, said, “We thank Senator Harckham for visiting Putnam CAP during a very challenging time. We appreciate his continued support of our organization and the important role it plays in helping hundreds of struggling families in Putnam County.” 

To see a video of O’Leary talking about Putnam CAP and food insecurity, click here.

Ossining Food Pantry Volunteer Doug Gaynor said, “We have been receiving calls and emails from families panicked about how the potential SNAP cuts will affect them. But we have also been receiving calls and emails from people asking how they can help. It has been wonderful to realize how supportive this community is and gives us some confidence that their support will allow us to meet what is likely to be even more challenging conditions with the need continuing to grow.”

To see a video of Ossining Food Pantry board member Victor Illonardo talking about the Ossining Food Pantry and food insecurity, click here.

CHHOP CEO Cynthia Knox said, “At Fred’s Pantry, operated by CHHOP, we serve nearly 9,000 unduplicated individuals each year with healthy, nutritious food. On November 1, we saw a 10% increase in demand, and we expect the number of Peekskill residents in need to grow as this crisis continues. These are difficult times, but Peekskill residents are resilient. We all need to work together and strengthen our collective commitment to ensure no family goes hungry.  Food is not a privilege—it is a human right.”

To see a video of Knox talking about Fred’s Pantry and food insecurity, click here.

Putnam Community Action Program (Putnam CAP)

121 Main St, Brewster, NY 10509

Phone: (845) 278-8021

https://www.putnamcap.org/

Ossining Food Pantry

7 S Highland Ave, Ossining, NY 10562

Phone: (914) 762-5510

https://ossiningfoodpantry.org/

Fred’s Pantry

137 N Division St, Peekskill, NY 10566

Phone: (914) 736-2636

https://www.stpeterspeekskill.org/freds-food-pantry