My Town magazine Partner John Vallone with Andrea Aston Store Manager Weis Markets on Robinson St. Binghamton and Jack Seman CHOW Program Director CHOW; Broome County Council of Churches.
My Town is calling on you to take action so that children, as well as those who cannot afford nutritious meals or those unable to get to the store to get the groceries they need, are able to eat. We at My Town teamed up with Weis Markets to secure a small donation for CHOW®, a program of the Broome County Council of Churches. Our donation will help feed those in need. It is a testament to the fact that you do not have to be rich or a large corporation to contribute – just give what you can. With that said, I wanted to highlight the amazing efforts Weis has given to help end hunger. Andrea Aston Store Manager Weis Markets on Robinson St. met with us and said “Weis Markets is committed to being a good neighbor in the areas we operate. An integral part of that is being directly involved in the community so we can give back to those in need. Working with CHOW® to help fight hunger is an incredibly important cause for Weis Markets. Our stores work year round to support CHOW® in their mission to serve those in need throughout the Southern Tier. Whether it’s donating food product directly from our stores, our annual Fight Hunger campaign, or taking customer round up donations at the register, every effort is important to help reduce the number of those who go hungry. I am proud to work for an Organization that takes this commitment to heart. Just last December, Weis donated 10,000 lbs. of Hormel hams to CHOW®. That equaled 2,600 hams that were able to feed 20,000 people over the Holidays. We continually look for opportunities to assist the community. Our next partnership with CHOW® will be sponsoring their CHOW® bus so nutritious food can be attainable for those not near a market.”
It is because of Weis’ efforts and the efforts of others that have teamed up with CHOW® that hunger is reduced in this area. Jack Seman, the Director,of CHOW® (Community Hunger Outreach Warehouse) said every year their 7200 sqft. warehouse distributes 2.2 million pounds of food. Half of that is recovered food that goes from that state to someone’s table within 24 hours. Much of the food goes to the Salvation Army Bread Line with the rest being turned over quickly for others in need. With their Summer Caring Package program, they collaborate with 9 partners throughout the County to distribute food quickly. This summer their goal is 30,000 meals to children, just last week Vestal High School students packaged up 11,000 meals. This is a great savings for those in need as a 40 meal package costs only $15. In addition they run “Dining on a Dime” where they have teamed up with a SUNY Binghamton Executive Chef to teach classes on how to cook healthy meals and at the end of the program the participants are afforded the opportunity to take home the kitchen tools they used in class. CHOW® grows their own food to help reduce the cost of food for the people in need. Additionally CHOW® has school busses on the road that are packed with food from Weis and other grocery stores that go to food deserts (the geographic area where the population is more than a mile away) so that they can have the opportunity to purchase food that is nutritious. Finally CHOW® works with Social Services to provide jobs and training for those in need so they can afford better jobs that will remove them from the poverty level.
Please give this Summer when the need is greatest and then continue giving throughout the year to end hunger in our area.