Greenwich Hospital Employees Collect Over 2,000 Pounds Of Food

Information via Greenwich Hospital

GREENWICH, CT — Greenwich Hospital employees recently collected over 2,000 pounds of food for two area pantries during a #GiveHealthy online food drive.

In total, Yale New Haven Health employees and medical staff have collected over 22,550 pounds of food as part of the system-wide food drive, according to a news release.

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"The pandemic has heightened the importance of collaborating with neighborhood partners to address the ever-changing needs of our communities," Greenwich Hospital president Diane Kelly said in a news release. "This donation is a small gesture compared to the outpouring of support from residents to our frontline workers during this ongoing health crisis."

Greenwich Hospital employees and medical staff, specifically, collected enough food to provide 2,353 meals to individuals and families who rely on Neighbor to Neighbor in Greenwich and Caritas in Port Chester, N.Y. In total, the health system collected enough food to provide 18,792 meals statewide.

"A food drive helps to provide a full selection of healthy food items and engages the community for support," Margaret Goldberg, executive director of Neighbor to Neighbor, said in a news release. "We appreciate our special relationship with the hospital, especially at this particular time of need within our community."

Caritas Executive Director Bill Cusano noted winter is "always a difficult time of year" for families living in poverty.

"We greatly appreciate the hospital's generosity," Cusano said in a news release.

Yale New Haven Health concluded a two-month online healthy food donation program as part of the #GiveHealthy Movement. The goal was to provide fresh fruits, vegetables and other healthy food items to help hunger-relief organizations during the winter when donations are fewer.

Because the food is shipped from suppliers directly to hunger-relief organizations, donors were able to purchase healthy food items, including fresh produce.

"Food insecurity has always been a problem for people in our communities, but COVID-19’s economic impact has meant that even more people can’t afford enough food to feed themselves and their families," YNHHS System Director, Community Health Improvement, Nancy Hamson said in a news release. "In response, YNHHS was eager to collaborate with our partners at #GiveHealthy with our first online food drive. We invited employees and medical staff throughout YNHHS to support hunger-relief organizations in the communities where they live and/or work."

YNHHS' drive was developed and organized through a system-wide collaboration among Community Health Improvement, Community and Government Relations, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Human Resources, Marketing and Communications and Food and Nutrition.

"The 42 million plus people struggling with food insecurity also face high rates of diet-related health issues – obesity, diabetes, cancer – due to a lack of access to healthy food. But a lot of food that gets donated actually worsens these health conditions. We wanted to make healthy food donations," YNHH Community Benefit Manager Augusta Mueller said in a news release. "#GiveHealthy enables people to donate fresh fruits, vegetables and other healthy food to improve the health of our communities."