Island Harvest Receives 2 Grants To Help Fight Hunger On LI

HAUPPAUGE, NY - Just in time for the holidays, Island Harvest Food Bank recently received a two grants to help fight hunger across Long Island.

The local non-profit receuved a $40,000 grant award from Capital One to help with hunger relief, job readiness, and financial literacy as well as a $15,000 grant award from The Walt Disney Company to help purchase fresh fruits and vegetables from local farms to promote healthier eating among food insecure Long Islanders, according to Randi Shubin Dresner, Island Harvest Food Bank’s president and CEO.

The Disney grant was part of a $1 million contribution made by Disney to Feeding America and will go towards buying healthier fresh, fruits and vegetables to the 316,000 Long Islanders who face food insecurity.

According to the American Heart Association, the National Institutes of Health, and Feeding America, there is a link between some chronic health issues as diabetes, hypertension and obesity, and the lack of access to nutritious food.

Feeding America’s Hunger in America 2014 study found that 21 percent of Long Island households served by local food banks reported at least one member with diabetes, and 50 percent reported having a member with high blood pressure.

In addition to its food collection and distribution efforts, the organization provides education through mobile nutrition “task forces,” SNAP awareness and earned government benefits assistance, and job training programs.

The grant from Capital One will go towards funding those programs.