Ample Table for Everyone (ATE) is pleased to share this special edition newsletter—which we hope finds you safe and healthy amid the coronavirus pandemic. As more families struggle with food insecurity during this economic and health crisis, we hope you will continue to support ATE in our work to provide grants to organizations providing nutritious meals and assistance to their communities. If you are aware of an organization or a local community group that would benefit from information in our newsletter, please pass it along!
Welcome New ATE Grantees
ATE is excited to announce our newest grantees. They will be using their grants to deliver the Family and Food Matters curricula created through a partnership between ATE and the NYU McSilver Institute.
Covenant House New York (CHNY) helps young people in need find safety and refuge from the dangers of living on the streets through compassion, unconditional love and absolute respect. CHNY will implement the Family and Food Matters to Pregnant Women (FFM-PW) educational program to educate mothers about appropriate nutrient-dense foods for themselves to maximize the development of their baby, as well as teach strategies for coping with pregnancy, motherhood and economic hardship. The Covenant House implementation will assess the benefits of applying the FFM-PW program to their population of mothers in need.
NewYork-Presbyterian’s Division of Community and Population Health connects community residents with medical and behavioral health care through a wide range of community health programs for children, adolescents, and adults. The Family PEACE Trauma Treatment Center (FPTTC) and CHALK (Choosing Healthy & Active Lifestyles for Kids) are two community programs that focus on early childhood and offer direct services to parents with young children.
The programs have partnered to adapt and implement the Family and the Food Matters for Pregnant Women (FFM-PW) and the Family and Food Matters for Caregivers and Kids (FFM-CK) educational curricula. The implementation of these curricula will assess the benefits of applying them within their communities.
The Covid-19 Crisis You Can Impact: HUNGER IN NYC
What does every single living thing on Earth need to survive? What is as essential on a mundane day, as it is during a pandemic? Food.
Beyond survival, humans use food for pleasure, in celebration with community and family, and for cultural expression. With more time at home and indoors, food is the great convener, scheduler, and pleasure in our days and for our families. We build our days around recipes and the meals that we will share. While we are all at home more than ever before, the availability and need for community and food have been highlighted like never before, and the urgent hunger of our fellow New Yorkers is more obvious and pervasive than ever.
If you are hungry or know a high risk New Yorker in need of food delivered, this comprehensive guide from The Food Education Fund includes an interactive map with locations, hours, and services, as well as additional resources on available food sources for all in all five boroughs. If you are looking to receive vital food benefits, reach out to Hunger Free NYC for help.
Helping New Yorkers
While many effects of the pandemic will be long-lasting and remain unknown, reducing hunger in our city is one issue that we can take action on today. There are so many organizations and restaurants making a difference by feeding one person at a time, so please help where you can. Below is a list of direct action organizations that are providing the essential ingredient to life – food – for our fellow New Yorkers that need your support. Food connects and uplifts us all.
World Central Kitchen, in partnership with Feeding America and the Ford Foundation, is responding to the unprecedented, daily demand for food created by Covid-19. By using data and social media to identify the communities and individuals most in need, they can quickly respond to maintain the food supply-chain that is powering food banks and restaurants, as well as recruit volunteers to distribute food safely for all involved. Led by Chef Jose Andres, they have delivered over 1 million meals in less than a month. Read more about how other chefs are helping to feed America in Zagat Stories.
God’s Love We Deliver is a critical link to the most invisible and vulnerable populations, many of whom have been socially distant before it was a mandate. With a focus on delivering nutritious meals to the ill, they provide shelf stable ingredients to clients, while ensuring the supply chain and volunteers remain accessible and healthy.
City Meals on Wheels has been delivering meals and groceries directly to the elderly in all five boroughs for decades. They have seen demand for their services skyrocket during the pandemic due to family, friends, and home health aides being unable to run basic errands.
Nearly as urgently as organizations need donations, they need people to help address the steep increase in demand, while their regular cohort of volunteers is limited. If you or someone you know is healthy and interested in volunteering their time, In It Together NYC will match you with an organization in need.
Support Ample Table for Everyone
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.
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.