FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 18, 2021
City of Kingston Honors Emergency Food Collaborative
KINGSTON, NY – Mayor Steven T. Noble is pleased to announce that, in recognition of one year of service, March 18, 2021 is “Kingston Emergency Food Collaborative Day” in the City of Kingston. Mayor Noble presented a proclamation to the Kingston Emergency Food Collaborative (KEFC) on Thursday at a small ceremony.
KEFC is made up of multiple organizations, grassroots organizers, City of Kingston staff, and individual volunteers who came together to remove barriers to food access and ensure that no member of the community went hungry during the pandemic. Over the past year, the KEFC has provided food deliveries from People’s Place, Catholic Charities, and the Everette Hodge Community Center to support 743 households (1,368 adults and 709 children).
“I want to whole-heartedly thank the KEFC for their unwavering support of our community during an unbelievably hard time,” said Mayor Noble. “I want to thank all of the volunteers who put themselves in harm’s way to deliver meals and groceries in our community’s greatest time of need. There is no greater act as a neighbor and I commend the KEFC and thank them for one year of dedicated service.”
KEFC is primarily volunteer-run, with many community-based organizations also contributing staff time to this effort. More than 500 unique volunteers have helped manage multiple distribution sites, sort and pack food, schedule deliveries, handle a food-request hotline, conduct outreach calls, schedule volunteers, deliver meals and groceries, source ingredients for and provide school recess meal boxes for families, and mobilize rapid meal production and distribution. This equates to 17,393.25 volunteer hours worked since the collaborative’s launch in 2020 through February 28 of this year, totaling $473,090 in unpaid work.
Mayor Noble, the City of Kingston, and KEFC give their sincerest thanks to the participating organizations and food providers:
|
Participating Organizations
A.J. Williams-Myers African Roots Center
Catholic Charities
City of Kingston
Community Action
Cornell Cooperative Extension of Ulster County
Exago
Family of Woodstock Inc.
Hudson Valley Farm Hub
Hudson Valley Seed
Kingston Food Coop
People's Place
Radio Kingston
Rise Up Kingston
The Salvation Army- Kingston, NY
UlsterCorps
Ulster County
Ulster County Department of Health and Mental Health
Kingston YMCA Farm Project
YMCA of Kingston & Ulster County
|
Food Partners/Providers
Applestone
Bread Alone
Catholic Charities
Everette Hodge Community Center
Grassroots Farm
Hickory BBQ Smokehouse
Hudson Harvest
Hudson Valley Farm Hub
Hudson Valley Fresh Dairy
JJF Farm
Kingston Bread + Bar
Kingston City School District
Marisa McClinton
Miglioreli's
Mother Earth’s Storehouse
PAKT To Go
People's Place
Restaurant Kinsley
Ronnybrook Dairy
Salvation Army
Savona’s
Sfogolini
The Anchor
The Farm Bridge
The Lo Farm
Tilda's Kitchen & Market
Veritas
Village Coffee & Goods
|
Anyone in the City of Kingston who is in need of food is encouraged call the KEFC hotline at 888-316-0879 or visit www.kingstonemergencyfood.com/.