WHOLE FOODS DONATES TO PANTRIES
Organic food mega store Whole Foods will donate proceeds to two food pantries on the Upper West Side.
As part of its Jan. 6, 2010 “Community Giving Day,” 20 Whole Foods locations in the Northeast will give five percent of all sales that day to local charities.
On the Upper West Side, Goddard Riverside will receive proceeds from the Park West Village Whole Foods, at 808 Columbus Ave. and West 97th Street.
The West Side Campaign Against Hunger, housed in the Church of St. Paul and St. Andrew on West 86th Street and Broadway, will get proceeds from the Whole Foods at Columbus Circle.
Stewart Desmond, development director at the West Side Campaign Against Hunger, said that more clients are in need of services—a 30-percent increase over the last two years.
“That’s a real struggle for us, to support the food and counseling services,” Desmond said. “The money from Whole Foods will help us continue our open-door policy. No matter how high the numbers get, we don’t turn people away.”
The project was also organized by World Hunger Year, a non-profit dedicated to hunger and poverty. World Hunger Year will also be receiving a portion of Whole Foods’ proceeds from Jan. 6 sales.
Last year, Whole Foods’ locations in the city raised $50,000 during its five-percent day.
An error appeared in this story. Stewart Desmond is the development director at the West Side Campaign Against Hunger.
Nutrition for the Body and Soul
About a year ago, Manny Ramos began getting cooking compliments from his wife. Ramos always enjoyed cooking, but his dishes were usually yellow rice and beans with fried chicken.
“One day, I cooked pasta with cheese. My wife asked me how I did it,” Ramos said. “She likes the way I cook now.”
Ramos’ new culinary repertoire is the result of a 12-week course he took at the West Side Campaign Against Hunger, a food pantry housed in the Church of St. Paul and St. Andrew, on West 86th Street and Broadway. He started volunteering there at the suggestion of a friend from church. Read more
HUNGER PAINS
Inside the Church of St. Paul and St. Andrew, a woman is calling out numbers, once in English, again in Spanish. Jose Maldonado is waiting for his number. The Bronx man, a widower who cares for his three pre-teen children, was recently referred to the church in hopes that he can take part in the West Side Campaign Against Hunger, a co-op food bank based there that serves mostly Manhattan residents.
This is the first time that Maldonado has sought this kind of assistance. He is independently employed as a house painter and receives food stamps and city benefits Read more
