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Fighting hunger and touching lives, Island Harvest — Long
Island’s largest hunger relief organization — serves
as the bridge between those who have surplus food and those
who need it. Our volunteers and staff “rescue,” or
collect, good surplus food from over
600 local restaurants, caterers, farms, and other food-related
businesses; and distribute
it to a network of close to 500 soup
kitchens, food pantries, and
other places where those in need can access it. We also
conduct educational programs to increase hunger awareness
and inform the public how they can get involved in our mission
to end hunger and reduce food waste on Long Island.
Island Harvest has received a four star rating – the
highest – from Charity
Navigator, America’s largest independent evaluator
of charities, two years running.
Our Story
Island Harvest was founded in 1992 by Linda Breitstone,
who was infuriated that a local convenience store was throwing
away good food, with a soup kitchen right down the street.
She created Island Harvest and our mission: to end hunger
and reduce food waste on Long Island.
Since those early days, Island Harvest has grown to become
the third largest food rescue organization in the
United States. Our corps of 1,000
active and trained volunteers and staff
of 18 now rescue and deliver seven million
pounds of food per year, supplementing about 5.4 million meals.
Recently, we have developed new programs to attack hunger
in targeted and strategic ways. These include The
Kids Alliance – Weekend Food-To-Go Program,
which helps schoolchildren who depend on school meal programs,
and our Bridging
the Educational Divide workshop series, which
works with staff and volunteers of our member food programs
to help their clients become more self-sufficient.
There are so many ways to get involved with Island Harvest,
from making
a contribution or making a long-term investment by
leaving Island Harvest in your will, becoming
a volunteer, conducting
a food drive or becoming
a sponsor. Please contact
us if you have any questions.
Read
our 2006 annual report.
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