FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
March 30, 2020
Feeding New York State LaunchesStatewide Produce Sourcing Program
Introduces New State Produce Manager, Jim Germain
Albany, NY – Feeding New York State (FeedingNYS) today announced the launch of its Statewide Produce Sourcing program. The goal of the program is to link farmers and food banks at the statewide level to ensure that the food grown in New York can be provided to New Yorkers in need, no matter where in the state they live. FeedingNYS will also link these farms to the wider food bank network outside New York State.
The first-year goal of the Statewide Produce Sourcing Program is to obtain a total of 17.7 million pounds of top-quality New York-grown produce. This quantity of fresh food will make a big difference for New York’s food-insecure residents.
In order to achieve that goal, FeedingNYS is also announcing the appointment of Jim Germain as Feeding New York State Produce Manager. Jim joins FeedingNYS from Feeding America, where he successfully sourced over 20 million pounds of food in the last year.
“Having a Statewide Sourcing Program has been our goal for many years, and there is no one better than Jim Germain to lead this effort,” said Dan Egan, Executive Director of FeedingNYS. “We are grateful to Jim and to all of those who played a role in getting this program established, particularly our partners at Feeding America and the generous farmers of New York State.”
“I’m excited to lead the Statewide Produce Sourcing program at Feeding New York State,” said Germain. “This organization has a strong relationship with the Farm Bureau and the farmers in New York, and I believe that working together in this program will yield even more wonderful results for our food-insecure neighbors.”
“We are thrilled to support the continued growth of state-wide fresh produce sourcing as well as the new opportunities this opens up for regional systems innovation,” said Feeding America’s Anne Swanson, VP of Strategic Product Initiatives.
“This is a wonderful opportunity for New York State’s ten Feeding America food banks to access additional fresh produce to support New Yorkers in need of emergency food assistance. Launching this program at a time when all of our food banks are on the front lines in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic by distributing emergency food provides us with another resource to help people take care of their nutritional needs and overall health and well-being,” said Paule Pachter, Board Chair of Feeding New York State.
About Feeding New York State
Feeding NYS’s mission is to ensure that every person in every community has access to good, healthy food. We help the food banks of New York State obtain more food, donations and volunteer support. In partnership with other advocates, we support public policy aimed at alleviating the problem of hunger. Feeding NYS’s network of food banks feeds millions of New Yorkers each year with the help of more than 5,000 food pantries, soup kitchens, shelters, and other non-profit feeding programs.
Feeding NYS covers every county in New York state. Our ten member food banks include: FeedMore WNY (Buffalo), Foodlink (Rochester), Food Bank of the Southern Tier (Elmira), Food Bank of Central New York (Syracuse), Regional Food Bank of Northeastern New York (Latham), Feeding Westchester (Elmsford), Island Harvest Food Bank(Bethpage), Long Island Cares (Hauppauge), City Harvest (New York City) and Food Bank for New York City (NYC).
For more information about Feeding NYS, visit www.feedingnys.org.
Press Contact
Dan Egan, Executive Director
Feeding New York State
25 Elk Street, Suite 201
Albany, NY 12207
execdir@feedingnys.org
(518) 930-7052
