WHITE PLAINS – Food insecurity among Westchester County residents is typically high with 200,000 families including 60,000 children. Matt Honeycutt, a vice president with Feeding Westchester, said with COVID-19, that may have risen by as much as 40 percent.
County Executive George Latimer said on Monday that the county will allocate $3 million to help ease the food shortage.
“About $750,000 for Feeding Westchester, $750,000 in grants that will support local food pantries and then there will also be an allocation to serve homebound individuals. We have grants that will be supplied through DSS (Department of Social Services), and some targeted programs and also we will be looking at some of the innovative programs such as the New Rochelle model gift card program,” he said.
Funds will be set aside for restaurant-based initiatives. Restaurants and businesses were forced to shut down because of NY PAUSE. Several communities started initiatives that pair local eateries with residents in need, through a partnership with area nonprofits.
