Food Bank of Central New York

Food Bank staff recently surprised former Board Member and Executive Director, Thomas Slater, with a conference room named in his honor. Tom served as our Executive Director from 1995 to 2013. Family and friends came together to celebrate his legacy and unveil the new space, speaking to his neighbor-first mindset, faith, and ambition in the face of adversity. "Tom was a trailblazer, building a foundation constructed of compassion and innovation. He surrounded himself with individuals with the same core values, many of whom are still employed at the Food Bank, continuing his legacy," shared Executive Director, Karen Belcher. 💛🍏 Special thanks to Feeding America's President & Chief Operating Officer, Linda Nageotte, for her video presentation honoring Tom!

New Year, New Anniversary! We are your Food Bank, and in 2025, we're honoring 40 years of service to our communities. 🎉 We've been through a lot together, so we're bringing in some familiar faces to help share our legacy! ⭐ Join us each week on our socials for our Faces of the Food Bank series, highlighting the mission, memories, and milestones that have shaped our service to the community over 40 years.

Lighting the way for 40 years! 🕯️ Food Bank of Central New York is leading the effort to eliminate hunger in our region, by partnership with others in our community, through education, advocacy, and distribution of nutritious food. Our vision is a future where EVERYONE has access to nutritious food, and no one is hungry. And you can join our legacy! To get involved, visit fbcny.org/40 to view special events and initiatives happening throughout our 40th anniversary year. 🍏💛

Wrapped up and rolling into the New Year! 🚚 From all of us here at Food Bank of Central New York, we are honored to serve the communities we live in, and so grateful for the continued trust and support of neighbors like you! 💛 Here are a few core memories we made in 2024: 🍏 We distributed over 22 million pounds of nutritious food items 🍏 We expanded our Food Bank, and launched two food locker access points for neighbors 🍏 We collaborated with over 370 partner agencies, 125 retail partners, and 1,000 volunteers to further our hunger relief efforts across our 11-county service area

A huge thank you to Giovanni Food Company, Inc. for their donation of $50,000 to help expand our warehouse and deepen our impact across our service area! 🎉 Special thanks to Giovanni Foods' CEO, Lou Dement, for championing this effort in addition to serving on our Building Committee and as Vice President of our Board of Directors. Together, we’re building a hunger-free tomorrow! 🍏💛

Community Coming Together! The Bonadio Group recently donated 175 pounds of food and 375 meals in funds to our Food Bank. 🍏 Additionally, the team over at Amazon XL gave 418 pounds of non-perishables and hygiene products to serve neighbors in need. 💛 We're so grateful for the incredible support of organizations like these!

We're rounding out the year by celebrating two work-iversaries! 🤩 Jesse and Tyler both drive for the Food Bank, acting as a direct connection to our partners! They also started the very same day as one other, back in 2019. We're so grateful for the hard work and long hours each of our drivers accomplish on behalf of the Food Bank!

Little friends, big impact! 🤩 Shoutout to All Saints Elementary School and East Hill Elementary School for hosting incredibly successful food drives to benefit neighbors served by the food bank! All Saints brought in 364 pounds of non-perishables AND hygiene items! 💛 East Hill collected 641 pounds of nutritious food! 🍏 Interested in collecting food for the Food Bank? Visit fbcny.org/fooddrive to get started!

From all of us here at Food Bank of Central New York, we wish you a happy, healthy, and safe holiday season! ❄️💛 Please note that the Food Bank will be closed December 25 and will reopen at 8:00am on December 30. Our Food Finder tool is available at fbcny.org/findfood.

That’s a wrap on another incredible #FoodForFamilies, thanks to our friends at Tops Markets and our media partners at NewsChannel 9 WSYR, SRC, Y94, B104.7 and NewsRadio 570 WSYR! We're especially grateful for all of the community support we received today, with special thanks to our partners at: 🌟 VIP Structures for their CanStruction creation! 🌟 SRC 🌟 Barton & Loguidice 🌟 Harmony Katz 🌟 Novelis There's still time to purchase a Little Brown Bag of Hope at your local Tops Friendly Markets and help provide meals to neighbors in need this holiday. Learn more at fbcny.org/foodforfamilies.