Ample Table for Everyone (ATE) is pleased to share our Fall 2020 Newsletter with you. We hope it finds you safe and healthy. When faced with the magnitude of an event such as the pandemic, we’ve all had to adapt. With your support, Ample Table for Everyone (ATE) was able to pivot and provide emergency grants to organizations on the front lines of the pandemic in New York City, working to employ out-of-work restaurant workers, feeding hungry people and providing support and encouragement to those whose lives were turned upside down. In our final newsletter for 2020, we want to spotlight our grantees and share some updates on how they’ve been doing. Despite the challenges posed by the pandemic, they continue to adapt, finding innovative ways to support their communities.
We thank all of our donors for their generous support in the fight against food insecurity. We hope you will remember us on Giving Tuesday, December 1, 2020.
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ATE Welcomes a New President of the Board Our founding member, Helaine Geismar Katz, and President of the Board of Directors, has decided to step down from her role as president and will continue to serve on the board. As her successor, we welcome Cindy Gerhard as the new President-Elect, with a term starting January 1, 2021. Since the organization was founded in 2013, Helaine has guided the growth and development of Ample Table for Everyone. She brought a wealth of experience from her 35 year career at the 92nd Street Y. Her vision for the organization, generosity of spirit and sheer hard work nurtured the new organization and enabled it to flourish. Helaine’s leadership through the years has made ATE the organization that it is today. We would like to thank her for her service and commitment to ATE. Cindy joined the board of Ample Table four years ago. Following her 30 year career in the financial industry, Cindy retired with a goal of developing her passion for community service and increasing her commitment to non-profit work. She brings a breadth of leadership experience in management, marketing and product development to ATE. We wish her the best of success as our new President of the Board. |
| SPOTLIGHT ON OUR GRANTEES |
Covenant House is a well-established institution, known for helping young people find safety and refuge from the dangers of living on the streets through compassion, unconditional love and absolute respect.
As they had recently opened a new site in the Bronx to provide a safe home for young mothers, they felt that the “Family and Food Matters for Pregnant Women” curriculum developed by ATE was just right for this audience. Eling Tsai, RD and Nutritionist at Covenant House observed, “The Family and Food Matters curriculum introduces more than just nutrition fundamentals for women’s health, but also the topics of stress management and building healthy relationships — themes that are so relevant in the lives of these young moms.” ATE agreed and awarded them a grant in January to offer the program.
Covenant House had originally planned to offer the curriculum in a traditional classroom format with in-person sessions. However, once the pandemic was upon us and New York City had placed restrictions on in-person gatherings, they needed to find another way to achieve their goal. Through the creative planning and execution by Eling, the curriculum was transformed into an attractive visual production with video and voice over from her. Instead of having to wait until larger gatherings are allowed, they can now move ahead with the training program in a safe and secure manner.
“We are so grateful for ATE’s support in bringing comprehensive wellness education to the pregnant women and moms in our community! ATE has also been a fantastic and flexible partner as we navigated the pandemic and adjusted our programming accordingly. It goes without saying, we are so happy to be able to bring FFM to life.”
We look forward to sharing feedback from the young women who participate.
Have you ever thought about your food consumption in terms of the number of pounds consumed?
According to research done by the FDA, the average American eats about 5 pounds of food per day, or almost 2000 pounds per year. When the pandemic hit, The River Fund went from helping 1200 households per week at their sites to as many as 4000. With a goal of supplementing household budgets with 70-100 pounds of food per week, they needed to ramp up food distribution significantly to support their communities.
They moved quickly to expand access from 1 day a week to 4 days a week. During the first five months of the pandemic, they distributed 7.5 million pounds of food, compared to 6.5 million pounds of food distributed in all of 2019.
Key to their success was a new warehouse in Brooklyn. Pre-Covid-19, The River Fund distributed 100,000 pounds of food per week – that’s 50 pallets of food delivered on the equivalent of 6 tractor-trailers. Quadruple that to the pandemic level and you’ve got 400,000 pounds of food, 200 pallets and 24 tractor-trailer loads delivering to the new warehouse every week!
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Getting all that food into the hands of hungry people took a network of partners. Many food pantries were able to pick up from the warehouse and get the food out to their clients. Area restaurants prepared and delivered meals to supporting facilities for further distribution.
According to The River Fund founder, Swami Durga Das, “We connect in the arena of poverty. The population that needs us are highly at risk. For us, it’s about hard work and getting down and dirty and doing what’s needed. I’m a realist. We will do the best we can for where we are. The best outcome we can have is in providing action for the families we serve.”
Blessings in a Backpack has a mission to supplement school lunch programs by providing food on the weekend to elementary school children.
When COVID-19 school closures began, the Blessings’ programs were faced with an extremely difficult decision. How would they do what they do best – serving children in need each week? Normally, weekends are the focus, but with COVID-19, kids now needed food for the entire week. As the schools transitioned to daily “pack and go” lunches, many parents were afraid to go out every day. Blessings worked closely with schools to coordinate pick up of a week’s worth of food in one bag.
The support from Ample Table enabled Blessings to provide bags of weekend nutrition for an additional 150 students throughout June, July, and August attending PS 503 School of Discovery and Exploration & PS 506 The School of Journalism Technology. Using a school-based grab-and-go style, Blessings was able to ensure kids experienced hunger-free weekends. As a result of this generous support, the volunteer team was able to meet the full need at both schools by feeding a total of 300 students.
Harlem Grown received a grant from ATE at a time when restaurants were limited to take out, all schools were providing virtual education, unemployment was high and many New York City residents were uncomfortable going out, even to essential businesses.
Harlem Grown used the grant to support their HG Meals program, which ran from late April through August. During that time, they worked with several local restaurants to coordinate the preparation and delivery of hot meals. At a time when fears were highest, Harlem helping Harlem provided people in the most economic distress with a sense of normalcy. This allowed the restaurants to remain open and provide employment. Over 13,000 meals were made and delivered to Harlem residents, including some at shelters located in Harlem and the Bronx.
The program has served its purpose and Harlem Grown has resumed work on the youth development programs that were halted during the pandemic. They have continued to adapt by offering virtual programming for live streaming from their farms and providing teachers with other resources for science lessons as a classroom supplement.
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Tony Hillary, the founder of Harlem Grown, tells their story in his new children’s book, “Harlem Grown: How One Big Idea Transformed a Neighborhood.”
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Invisible Hands began as a Facebook post – an offer from three twenty-somethings to help neighbors pick up groceries as COVID-19 began to spread throughout New York City.
In just three months, they organized over 10,000 volunteers and delivered over $1,000,000 in food, medicine, and other necessities throughout New York City, Long Island, Westchester, New Jersey, and Philadelphia. ATE was proud to support this creative effort.
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SUPPORT AMPLE TABLE
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We can’t do our work alone and need your support. A contribution to ATE will help organizations in need to reduce food insecurity in their communities.
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We are always accessible through the Ample Table for Everyone website, Facebook and Twitter and eager to hear from you! Search for “Ample Table for Everyone” or click our ATE Facebook link or ATE on Twitter . Please be sure to contact us with your concerns, questions and passions.