FEEDING ROCKLAND'S HUNGRY
PROJECTS
1
Food Pantry
The People to People Food Pantry is Rockland’s largest food pantry, distributing hundreds of food packages every month to households from every town, village and hamlet in Rockland County.
2
Back to School with Dignity
Back to School with Dignity is a vital People to People program that provides children from low-income families with the tools they need to be successful in school. Parents who struggle to feed their children are even more hard-pressed to purchase the many items included on the “required school supplies” lists distributed at the start of the school year.
Education is widely acknowledged as a key factor in breaking the cycle of poverty.
Through Back to School with Dignity, People to People equips at-risk children in grades K through 12 with the essential items needed to successfully start school.
Grants and financial contributions from Orange & Rockland Utilities, Flaregas Corp., and Clarkstown Retired Teachers – along with contributions from individuals, community groups and civic associations – support People to People’s Back to School with Dignity initiative.
To date, People to People has expended nearly $16,000 to purchase hundreds of quality backpacks, binders, pocket folders, calculators, composition tablets, highlighters, pens, pencils, markers, crayons and more.
School supply collection efforts by Pfizer, Better Homes and Gardens Rand Realty, Blue Hill Plaza and other businesses or civic groups contribute the additional school supplies needed to provide nearly 2,500 children with backpacks filled with school supplies.
3
In an effort to minimize exposure to the COVID-19 virus
People to People is NOT accepting clothing donations at this time
Clothes Closet
Clothes Closet provides People to People clients with warm coats, school clothes, onesies for newborns, professional outfits for job-seekers and more.
Initial funding for the Clothes Closet was provided by Dress Barn. Today, the Clothes Closet is stocked with clean and gently-used clothing donated by hundreds of caring Rocklanders.
4
It’s In The Bag
People to People’s It’s in the Bag program is an effort to alleviate childhood hunger in Rockland County by providing at-risk children with weekend food. The Program provides bags filled with child-friendly, nutritious, easy to prepare, shelf-stable food. Bags are discreetly distributed to participating children on Fridays.
Why?
Children in need receive healthy breakfast and lunch at school through federally funded programs. However, many of these children live in food insecure households where weekend meals may not be available.
Who?
Our program works with the Nyack Center and the Haverstraw Center, which are well-established after-school programs for K-8 public school children living in need. 95% of the children who attend these programs are at or below the federal poverty level. The majority of them have parents who are working poor. We are anticipating to expand this program to the Martin Luther King Center in Spring 2017.
How?
Working with the Food Bank of the Hudson Valley and community donors, People to People secures child-friendly, nutritious, and easy to prepare food items. The food is packaged by volunteers and delivered to the distribution sites each Friday during the school year.
5
Talk Turkey Program
Thanksgiving is just weeks away and People to People is focused on assuring that Rockland’s struggling families have turkeys to put on their tables on Thanksgiving Day. Last year, People to People distributed nearly 1,500 turkeys and all the fixings to struggling Rocklanders so they could enjoy a traditional Thanksgiving dinner. We’re going to need your help to ensure that all of our neighbors in need can celebrate Thanksgiving with a turkey and all the fixings for a traditional Thanksgiving feast.
6
Project Joy & Joy Store
Bring joy to a child during the holidays.
Project Joy! provides donors with the opportunity to “adopt-a-family” for the holidays and purchase toys from children’s wish lists. Last year, almost 900 families had gift-filled holidays thanks to many individuals, groups, and corporations that participated in Project Joy!
Presently People to People provides monthly food packages to more than 1,500 families each month. This year more than ever there will be need for our Joy! Store where families who were not eligible to submit a letter can receive two new gifts per child.
Therefore, the Joy!
Store needs new toys for boys and girls ages 0-18. Please purchase (or organize a toy drive to collect) soft toys, dolls, sports games, scrapbooks, art and craft kits, action figures, toy trucks, building games, musical and educational toys, and children’s books. In addition, $25 gift cards from Target, Wal-Mart, Old Navy, Barnes & Noble and Kohl’s are specially helpful as gifts for older children. Joy! Store donations can be delivered to People to People between 11/19 and 12/7.
