Winners of grant to fight hunger, Girl Scouts will collect perishable food at craft fair

Monday, November 14, 2011
by Christine Yeres

In recognition of National Childhood Hunger Awareness Week (Nov. 14-20), Senior Girl Scout Troop 2474 will run its First Annual Perishable Food Drive at the Chappaqua Craft Fair at the Bell Middle School this Saturday, November 19th, 2011 from 10:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. Please stop by their booth and make donations of potatoes, carrots, apples, peppers, onions, squash, beets, celery, oranges or radishes.  All collected food will be donated to the Food Bank for Westchester in Millwood.

Five Chappaqua Senior Girl Scouts of Troop 2747 were awarded a grant from the Sodexo Foundation’s Youth Service America program for their work in fighting childhood hunger.  Through their project “Sow What?” troop members Jennifer Hutchens, Julie Joseph, Glynnis Porter, Kate Rosenberg and Aileen Walker donated over 100 pounds of fresh produce from their garden to the Food Bank for Westchester last summer.

For their project proposal to Sodexo, aptly named “Growing Beans, Raising Awareness, and Weeding Out Childhood Hunger,” the girls received a $500 grant to continue to raise awareness of childhood hunger.

Mentored by former Greeley teacher Suzi Novak working now with InterGenerate—a non-profit that starts community gardens as a way to make fresh organic vegetables available to people who have little access to them—the Greeley sophomores took over four raised beds in the Chappaqua Community Garden, located at the Chappaqua Volunteer Ambulance Corps headquarters on North Greeley Avenue. 

Not only did the girls develop lifelong gardening skills— the were also able to donate over one hundred pounds of fresh produce to the Food Bank for Westchester.  They also learned a surprising lesson about the prevalence of childhood hunger, even in as prosperous a place as Westchester County.  “We usually think of hunger in terms of impoverished third world countries,” said the girls. “We were shocked to learn that one in five children in the area is hungry.”

The girls will use their award to coordinate perishable food drives like the one they will run at the craft fair on Saturday, to expand and improve their garden for next year, and to teach other Girl Scouts what they’ve learned.

The award, one of 25 granted nationwide, is part of Sodexo’s national effort to address these critical issues during Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week (November 14-20, 2011).  “This is a good time for community members to become more aware of these serious problems and join local organizations to make a difference,” according to troop leaders Dale Joseph and Cay White.

The girls recommend that interested community members visit the website of The Food Bank for Westchester to learn more, and, for other food pantry resources, NeedHelpPayingBills.com.