Flyers Food Drive Fundraiser

The holiday season is normally a time for celebration, but joy is in short supply for the approximately 3 million New Yorkers – including senior citizens, low-income families, single mothers, and the working poor – who experience difficulty affording the most basic necessities for survival.

WHAT IS THE FOOD BANK FOR NEW YORK CITY

The Food Bank for New York City is New York's largest non-profit hunger relief agency in New York.  It serves communities in all five boroughs, supplying shelters and food assistance organizations throughout the city.

In addition to procuring and distributing food, the Food Bank for New York City also sponsors a variety of programs on nutrition education, teaching basic cooking skills, and promoting healthy food choices and increasing the availability of fresh, healthy ingredients in neighborhoods that are underserved by traditional grocery stores and supermarkets. The Food Bank for New York City also works with community-based organizations to increase the availability of food stamps, and with low-income individuals and families to file income taxes.

WHAT IS THE NY FLYERS FOOD DRIVE FUNDRAISER?

Since 2008, the Flyers have raised money for the Food Bank for New York City during the holiday season through the New York Flyers Food Drive Fundraiser.  While we've never tracked exact numbers each year, this drive, which normally kicks off in mid-November and runs through mid-December, has successfully raised more than $10,000 total in its four consecutive years.  This year our target is $3,000 total, and as the drive approaches its halfway mark, we have raised a smidgen above 50% of our goal to date.  All donations are fully tax-deductible!

WHY IS THERE A NY FLYERS FOOD DRIVE FUNDRAISER?

There are a great many worthwhile charitable organizations supporting a vast array of causes in New York City.  The Flyers chose to support the Food Bank for New York City both because of its mission to address the most basic of human needs in our own community, and because the Food Bank for New York City scores extremely high marks with watchdog agencies like Charity Navigator, which assess non-profits' organizational transparency and efficiency of donation use.

While the Food Bank for New York City plays a key role in acquiring and distributing food to a broad base of immediate-relief organizations, it encourages its supporters to focus on monetary contributions rather than direct food donations.  This is because the Food Bank for New York City is able to leverage relationships with wholesalers and other suppliers to buy large quantities of food (including fresh produce) at prices that are vastly lower than retail.

In addition, by not using its limited resources for picking up and transporting individual food donations to its warehouses for redistribution, the Food Bank for New York City also can focus on efficiency in distributing the larger quantities of food it has acquired through its supply network.  Each dollar donated to the Food Bank for New York City provides five meals to help alleviate hunger, and 96 cents of every dollar donated go directly to hunger relief.  As a result, even small donations make a significant impact.

THE FOOD BANK AND HURRICANE SANDY

This year, the Food Bank for New York City is also direcly involved in Hurricane Sandy relief.  In addition to leveraging donations from our own fundraiser and others like it to assist individuals and families hard-hit by he recent storm, The Food Bank for New York City is also running both a dedicated emergency response fundraiser and a dedicated volunteer program in which volunteers can aid the relief effort through meal preparation, food repackaging, and working at several different relief centers throughout the city.

Click here for more information on the 2012 Flyer Food Drive Fundraiser and to donate. Additional information is posted on the Food Bank for New York City's website.

The 2014 Flyer Food Drive Fundraiser runs through December 19th.  As the year draws to a close, please consider including this worthy cause in your annual giving.

-Dana M.