12,000 meals
Total Meals Distributed
This week we reached 12,000 meals - over 11,250 humanitarian meals and over 750 frontline meals distributed since March. We are currently sending meals to food pantries in Mount Vernon and Dobbs Ferry and community health centers in Mount Vernon, Yonkers, and Greenburgh. But we want to do more.
Assessing Need
Since March 2020, food insecurity in Westchester has increased exponentially. The County’s food bank, Feeding Westchester, has reported a four-fold increase in demand from its member agencies. Some frontline community-based organizations are reporting as much as a 600% increase in need. Food pantries where On The Line delivers are reporting lack of access to essential pantry items like protein.
We compiled a food agency potential partner list of over 70 organizations across Westchester County; each organization’s client list ranges from 100-400 individuals in need, and all of their lists are growing.
When restaurants close, many former employees will join the lines at food banks.
A key finding in a survey of the Feeding America food bank network is that “service jobs make up one-sixth of the U.S. labor force, and 1 in 6 service industry workers are food insecure.”
We can and should do more.
A Movement Across America
The restaurant crisis will persist long after stay at home orders are lifted. We’re not alone in the approach to use restaurants as soup kitchens, other groups across the country are mobilizing in the same way:
World Central Kitchen Chefs for America, Restaurants for The People, Great Plates Delivered
California Great Plates Delivered, LA County Great Plates Delivered
On The Line is a local effort committed to playing a role in mitigating the long-term impacts on small businesses and food insecurity.
How You Can Help
You can help us fill the gap.
Feeding America projects a $1.4 billion shortfall. “The people we serve and the charitable food system in the United States are facing a ‘perfect storm,’ with surges in demand, declines in food donations and volunteers, and disruptions to normal operating procedures as a result of the COVID-19 crisis” said Claire Babineaux-Fontenot, CEO of Feeding America.
You can help the money go further.
The National Restaurant Association estimates that in normal times, every $1 spent in the restaurant industry contributes more than $2 to the state’s economy—to the supply chain, to employees, to rent. Paying restaurants to produce humanitarian meals means spending the money twice—once for the meal, once for the economy. The money doesn’t stop at a free meal, it goes through the businesses and stimulates local economies.
We are working hard to secure private donor funding in order to make long-term, meaningful commitments to local restaurants. We are lobbying our local politicians to use federal relief funds to lift up as many restaurants as possible.
In the meantime, we still need donations. Make a tax deductible donation through our Frontline Foods/World Central Kitchen donation page here — select “Westchester County” as the beneficiary.
Have you already donated? You can give again by forwarding this email and sharing our mission with your family and friends.
Do you work for a company who will match your donation? Or are you a business interested in a corporate partnership? Please email Michelle Adams for more information.
Would you like to volunteer? Fill out this form to volunteer nationally with Frontline Foods, locally with our “Westchester County” chapter, or both.
We’re counting on you to help us serve the community. Thank you for your continued support.
Michelle Adams
Founder, On The Line
PS — do you remember when we told you about Doug Schneider’s #families4humanity fundraiser/documentary book? He’s getting ready to put the book together, a portion of proceeds will benefit On The Line. We will let you know when it is available for purchase! Here is a sneak peek of our family photo — the families behind On The Line, Harper’s Restaurant, Saint George Bistro, and La Milpa de Rosa.
Thank you from Jason, Toni Ann, Michelle, Chris, Jackson, and Auguste