Community Table fundraiser fights food insecurity

The crowd at the Community Table fundraiser to support Mount Kisco Interfaith Food Pantry. Amy Sowder photo

By AMY SOWDER

A balmy April evening laid the groundwork for an idyllic garden party at a 1930s whitewashed brick manor home and horse stable on 40 acres in Katonah. 

Servers in flowered ties paraded trays of hors d’ oeuvres such as lobster blinis and pigs in a blanket. Guests nibbled at an elaborate table spread, tried the wine tasting by Neverstill Wines, sipped oHHo coffee and took home a Milk Bar cookie or cake truffle.

But the more than 200 guests gathered at the Community Table fundraiser April 24 were well aware that the luxurious setting wasn’t the reality at the tables of many nearby residents. This event’s purpose was to raise money for the Mount Kisco Interfaith Food Pantry, which feeds neighbors experiencing food insecurity and offers education and services for residents in 21 northern Westchester communities.

“It’s incredible how close the reality of hunger is among us. We pass by people daily,” said Sam Green, who co-hosted the event with Chris Lacovara. “They’re in the café, they’re walking down the sidewalk, they’re all around us, and they don’t speak of it. You don’t always see it and they don’t always say it, but it’s here.”

The Community Table represents a collective intention to come together in support of those in need, whether through donations of time, resources or generosity of spirit, organizers said.

Three times a week, the pantry opens its doors for distributions conducted in a grocery-store style that allows guests the dignity of choice. And twice a week, the pantry does home-delivery distributions, providing the same staples, frozen proteins, eggs, milk and fresh produce. 

The pantry nourishes more than 700 households, or 2,000 people every week, said Trina Ward Fontaine, executive director and CEO of the nonprofit organization, which launched more than 33 years ago and has a four-star rating on Charity Navigator. More than 118,000 people visited the pantry last year, Fontaine said, and 26 percent of them were children and 11 percent were seniors. 

There are only two people working on staff full time.

“We were able to do this with over 475 volunteers last year, giving 12,000 hours of time to us,” Fontaine said.

Volunteers unload food deliveries and stock shelves, pack produce, rescue food from local food donors, make home deliveries and help guests at distributions.

The pantry expected to see more need during the COVID-19 pandemic’s economic downturn, but that need hasn’t leveled off since then, Fontaine said. The need just keeps rising.

“Since 2022, the volume of people we serve has gone up 22 percent, and it’s not stopping,” Fontaine told the crowd.

To encourage guests at the Community Table to raise their paddles and commit to donating thousands toward each of the pantry’s food groups, the pantry nabbed hit songwriter and Bedford Hills native Sam Hollander to emcee. The event raised more than last year, exceeding expectations, pantry leaders say.

That’s good because more support is necessary, said Christian Ayala, pantry manager of distributions and guest relations.

“Inflation hit us really hard. Our numbers went up, and our grants stayed the same,” Ayala said. “We need more donations just to serve the same number of people. In the last two months, the price of eggs went through the roof.”

Roberta Horowitz, pantry director of programs and volunteers, continued, saying, “So we started giving half the amount of eggs, and one week we gave no eggs. That’s the first time we’ve ever done that, or at least since I started in 2011.”

While the pantry receives food donations from local grocery stores, restaurants, farms, and individuals, the staff needs to buy about 40 percent of the food they offer to those in need, Fontaine said.

The organization has to raise $1.3 million a year to keep operating.

“There’s a lot of hunger in Westchester,” she said. 

The Mount Kisco Interfaith Food Pantry is located at the United Methodist Church of Mount Kisco, 300 East Main St., Mount Kisco. For more information, call 914-610-5187 or visit mountkiscofoodpantry.org.