Before we know it, Westchester Magazine’s Wine & Food Festival will be upon us. Yes, we love eating fabulous food, drinking great wine, and meeting awesome chefs, but one thing that we wanted to spotlight this week is the charities who will be benefiting from the Wine & Food Festival this June. We spoke with The Westchester Parks Foundation and the Food Bank for Westchester to learn more about these great organizations and what you can do to get more involved.
WM: Can you tell us a little bit about your organization and what it does?
Food Bank for Westchester: Food Bank for Westchester leads the fight against hunger in Westchester County, serving 300 frontline programs that provide food directly to the 200,000 county residents who are hungry or food insecure. We supply 95 percent of all food distributed annually across the region’s food pantries, soup kitchens, shelters, and daycare and residential programs – delivering over 8.4 million pounds of food and 7 million meals to people. We like to say that Food Bank for Westchester is the can on the shelf, the produce in the bag and the chicken on the plate at soup kitchens and pantries throughout the county.
Westchester Parks Foundation: Westchester Parks Foundation is the largest organization advocating for the use and enjoyment of the 50+ parks and trails in the Westchester County park system. Our parks are one of Westchester’s greatest assets, and we believe that parks bring the community together, encourage fitness and a healthy lifestyle, and conserve open green space for all of us to enjoy.
Photo courtesy Westchester Parks Foundation |
WM: Your organizations are beneficiaries of Westchester Magazine’s Wine & Food Festival. Can you tell us where and how you plan to use the funds received from this event?
Food Bank for Westchester: Food Bank for Westchester is extremely appreciative of the ongoing support from Westchester Magazine during its annual Wine & Food Festival. As with all of our partners, our goal is to turn every monetary donation into fresh food provided for our community. The funds received from this event will go directly to support the Food Bank’s feeding initiatives, benefitting individuals in our community who are facing food insecurity.
Westchester Parks Foundation: We are sincerely excited to be part of Westchester Magazine’s Wine & Food Festival for another year! The funds raised help support our mission, and will in part go back to beautifying Kensico Dam Plaza, which is the host location for Burger & Beer Blast and Grand Tasting Village. We seek to enhance our parks for all to enjoy.
WM: How can people get involved with the your organizations? Are there volunteer and/or donation opportunities available?
Food Bank for Westchester: There are many volunteer and donation opportunities at Food Bank for Westchester. Whether it’s making a personal contribution during one of our annual fundraisers or gathering a group of friends to make a huge impact during one of our “Scoop” events, we welcome all support from the community. It is important to us that we be good stewards of those labor efforts and dollars. We encourage everyone to visit our website at foodbankforwestchester.org and follow us on social media for the latest updates on how to help individuals who are hungry in our neighborhoods. We are stronger together.
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/foodbankforwestchester
- Twitter: @FB4Westchester
- Instagram: @foodbankforwestchester
Westchester Parks Foundation: There are many ways to get involved with us – but one of the easiest is to volunteer! We host volunteer events nearly year-round. Visit our website at thewpf.org/volunteer to find out more. Or, support parks by becoming a member and getting involved with many of the great events that we hold! Visit thewpf.org/support/become-a-member to learn more.