June 2025

Good News, Bad News, and So Many Thank-you’s!

A rainy Wednesday can’t dampen our spirits

In the News
We had an inspiring visit with Ciara Mulligan, Advocacy Manager at Feeding Westchester— a food bank and one of our main suppliers. Regular readers know that federal budget cuts have had a deep impact on their fresh produce supplies. Ciara informed us that over a million pounds of food is no longer available to the 175 food pantries served by Feeding Westchester.

Ciara also brought us good news from Albany. New York State passed funding for Universal School Meals. Starting in September over 2.7 million students in public schools can receive free breakfast and lunch regardless of income. The program levels the playing field for low-income students and eliminates lunch debt. According to the state, “free school meals have been shown to support learning, boost test scores, and improve attendance and classroom behavior.” Way to go, New York!

Speaking of feeding students, we’re getting ready to roll out our School’s Out for Summer (SOS) supplement program. We provide additional lunch and breakfast food to families with kids who usually get those meals in school. Once again the Peluso-Fader family have been beyond generous in sending SOS provisions and treats. Stay tuned for more info.

Some of the SOS supplies organized by our volunteers from Living Resources

Now Hear This
Want to hear how the pantry operates? Get behind-the-scenes info? Take a listen to an interview with co-directors Donna Assumma and Vera Halpenny on the Rivertowns Dispatch podcast. Hear it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen to fine podcasts.

Thank you!
We asked for your help to cover our rising food costs. Wow! Our community has stepped up to support us. Contributions have come pouring in.

We had an increase in monetary contributions, helping us purchase our most needed supplies. If you’d like to make a donation, info is available on our website.

Many contributions came directly from our Amazon wish list — a convenient way to send what we need. Thank you to Gail Papelian,The King family, Stacy Baker, Heidy Libby, David Hoffman, Kiera, Connie Akins, the Matthew Zgaljic family and more. Please include your email in the “A Gift For You” section when donating so that we can thank you directly.

Wegmans in Harrison generously donated 100 boxes of cereal, 100 boxes of pasta and 100 jars of pasta sauce. Thank you for filling our shelves with these staples.

Every week we gratefully receive contributions from Dobbs Ferry’s Zion Episcopal Church, and Hastings’ Temple Beth Shalom brings us fresh produce. Our clients are also happy to receive the delicious donations from Mom’s Organic Market, Stop & Shop, Panera Bread and Sunshine Bagels. Thank you for your continuing support.

Food Drives
Neighbors across the Rivertowns held prolific food drives. They spread the word to their communities, and delivered the donations to the pantry. We’re blown away by how much they are doing to support us. Many thanks to the Alcott School and Greenburgh Hebrew Center, both in Dobbs Ferry, Irvington Presbyterian Church, and The Scarsdale Woman’s Club.

Erika, Maggie and Edie O’Shea dropped off a carload of donations from a food drive at Irvington Presbyterian Church that was led by Laura Graafland. Alex Kulpa spearheaded a wonderful food drive at the Alcott School

Adam Bass from the Greenburgh Hebrew Center dropped off boxes and boxes of donations! Karen from The Scarsdale Woman’s Club filled her car with food along with an envelope of monetary donations

Want to hold a food drive? Get in touch at dobbsferrypantry@gmail.com It’s a great community service project that you can do any time. Let’s keep the carloads coming all summer long. You may even see your picture in the next newsletter.

Planning to donate food to the pantry? Please make sure that everything you drop off hasn’t expired. Also, we cannot distribute open packages. Bringing those items here makes additional work for our volunteers. And we no longer need shopping bags. We’ve got plenty.

Sharon Bilman wrote this month’s newsletter. She appreciates the many uses of a good shopping bag, including as a rain hat.