Sleepy Hollow/Tarrytown Food Pantry Wins Hunger Hero Award

The Community Food Pantry of Sleepy Hollow/Tarrytown is the first ever recipient of the Food Bank for Westchester’s Michal Winter Memorial Award for Agency Excellence. 

The local food pantry was recently given the award at the eighth annual Hunger Hero Awards Breakfast, which thanks those who work to prevent hunger in Westchester. 

“The Community Food Pantry of Sleepy Hollow/Tarrytown is a stellar Food Bank member agency,” said Sara Cox, Director of Agency Relations and Nutrition of the Food Bank for Westchester. 

The Community Food Pantry of Sleepy Hollow/Tarrytown is an initiative of the Community Coalition, a group of community-based organizations and residents of Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow, and was started in 2009 by residents representing the Kids’ Club, the Public Schools of the Tarrytowns, Tarrytown YMCA, local churches and synagogues, and other community-based organizations. 

“Their commitment to health and nutrition initiatives is outstanding,” said Cox. “The fact that the pantry is ‘client choice’ which gives people the dignity of choosing their own foods to take home is a great model for other Food Bank member agencies. The Community Food Pantry of Sleepy Hollow/Tarrytown is a very deserving recipient of the first-ever Michal Winter Memorial Award for Agency Excellence.”

The pantry is located in the parish hall of Christ Episcopal Church at 43 South Broadway in Tarrytown and distributes fruits and vegetables, rice, beans, pasta, tuna, sardines, oil, peanut butter, frozen meat, cereal and milk on the second Thursday of each month from 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. and 7 p.m. to 8 p.m.

“We are not only a choice pantry, allowing our clients to make their own choices on what they receive but we are also a healthy pantry—no processed food, fresh fruits and veggies and the staples to make healthy meals,” said Terri Levine, the pantry’s president. “We also have had meetings with our clients to understand their needs, allow outside organizations to come and offer their services such as health information." 

The pantry also conducts coat and boot sales and as volunteers who come up with recipes from the ingredients the pantry distributes to help introduce the clients to eat healthy food they may not be familiar with, like kale.

The Community Food Pantry of Sleepy Hollow/Tarrytown operates through the help of volunteers and donations. For more information, click here for their website, call 914-631-6152 or email marter18@optonline.net.

If you would like to make a donation, checks can be made out to Community Food Pantry at43 South Broadway, Tarrytown, NY 10591.