Morning Ag Clips logo
  • Subscribe ❯
  • PORTAL ❯
  • LOGIN ❯
  • By Keyword
  • By topic
  • By state
  • Home
  • Events
  • Jobs
  • Store
  • Advertise
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Subscribe to our
    daily email
    ❯
  • Portal Registration❯
  • Login❯
  • policy
  • tractors & machinery
  • education
  • conservation
  • webinars
  • business
  • dairy
  • cattle
  • poultry
  • swine
  • corn
  • soybeans
  • organic
  • specialty crops
  • Alabama
  • Alaska
  • Arizona
  • Arkansas
  • California
  • Colorado
  • Connecticut
  • Delaware
  • Florida
  • Georgia
  • Hawaii
  • Idaho
  • Illinois
  • Indiana
  • Iowa
  • Kansas
  • Kentucky
  • Louisiana
  • Maine
  • Maryland
  • Massachusetts
  • Michigan
  • Minnesota
  • Mississippi
  • Missouri
  • Montana
  • Nebraska
  • Nevada
  • New Hampshire
  • New Jersey
  • New Mexico
  • New York
  • North Carolina
  • North Dakota
  • Ohio
  • Oklahoma
  • Oregon
  • Pennsylvania
  • Rhode Island
  • South Carolina
  • South Dakota
  • Tennessee
  • Texas
  • Utah
  • Vermont
  • Virginia
  • Washington
  • West Virginia
  • Wisconsin
  • Wyoming

Morning Ag Clips

  • By Keyword
  • By topic
  • By state
  • policy
  • tractors & machinery
  • education
  • conservation
  • webinars
  • business
  • dairy
  • cattle
  • poultry
  • swine
  • corn
  • soybeans
  • organic
  • specialty crops
  • Home
  • Events
  • Jobs
  • Store
  • Advertise
Home » Food bank inaugurates 1.8-acre Giving Garden
FOOD ACCESS ... Comments

Food bank inaugurates 1.8-acre Giving Garden

Garden to bring more nutritious produce to food insecure Long Islanders

PUBLISHED ON October 28, 2018

Among those attending the recent event celebrating the first harvest at Island Harvest Food Bank’s Giving Garden on the grounds at the Sister of St. Joseph in Brentwood are (left to right): Suffolk County Legislator Tom Cilmi; Sister Karen Burke, CSJ, Coordinator of Land Initiatives, Sisters of St. Joseph; Suffolk County Legislator Leslie Kennedy; Suffolk County Comptroller John M. Kennedy, Jr.; Ruby Saunders, First Baptist Church of Bay Shore; NYS Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan; NYS Assemblyman Steve Englebright; Randi Shubin Dresner, president & CEO, Island Harvest Food Bank; Sister Helen Kearney, CSJ, President of the Sisters of St. Joseph Brentwood; Hillary Hess, Community Garden Coordinator, Island Harvest Food Bank; and Douglas Nadjari, chairman of the board of directors, Island Harvest Food Bank. (Photo courtesy of Sister of St. Joseph Brentwood)

BRENTWOOD, N.Y. — Island Harvest Food Bank was joined by local hunger-relief advocates, elected officials, and community leaders recently in celebrating a 1.8-acre parcel that will be used to grow fresh fruits and vegetables to help address the issue of nutrition and food insecurity in our local communities. The land, located on a 212-acre parcel in Brentwood, is owned by the Sisters of St. Joseph, a religious order dedicated to education, health care, social justice, spirituality, empowering women and girls, and environmental conservation.

“A strong relationship between food insecurity, chronic health problems and poverty often exists because of the lack of access to fresh fruits and vegetables,” explains Randi Shubin Dresner, president & CEO, Island Harvest Food Bank. Among the health issues resulting from poor diets often cited by public health experts include diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, and obesity. “Many strategies to help the hungry tend to be short-term solutions and those who rely on typical anti-hunger programs face a lack of fresh, healthy food resulting in poor dietary choices and nutritional deficiencies. “The concept of producing locally grown, nutritionally rich, fresh fruits and vegetables are key to providing long-term and sustainable food security for the people we serve.”

Attending the ribbon-cutting event with Island Harvest Food Bank leaders were New York State Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan, New York State Assemblyman Steven Englebright, Suffolk County Comptroller John M. Kennedy, Jr., and Suffolk County Legislators Tom Cilmi and Leslie Kennedy. Also attending were Ehle Shachter from the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets, representatives from the Sisters of St. Joseph, local hunger-relief advocates, and Island Harvest Food Bank volunteers who work at the Giving Garden. New York State Senator Phil Boyle and Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone sent representatives to the event.

“We all know how important it is for everyone, especially our youth, to have access to fruits and vegetables and this new land for Island Harvest’s Giving Gardens program will help expand their ability to deliver healthy food to those in need.  By cultivating this land, through the efforts of their dedicated volunteers, Island Harvest will help provide better choices to those they serve which will help many in our community.  I applaud Randi and her team for the work they do every single day and wish them the greatest success,” stated Senator Flanagan.

Under the supervision of a certified organic gardener, Island Harvest Food Bank volunteers will cultivate crops that will include basil, beans, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, corn, cucumbers, eggplants, kohlrabi, okra, peppers, potatoes, pumpkins, radishes, rutabagas, squash, tomatillos, tomatoes, turnips, watermelon, and zucchini. In all, more than 4,000 pounds of produce will be grown and distributed to local food pantries, soups kitchens and other feeding programs serviced by Island Harvest Food Bank.

“The Sisters of St. Joseph are thrilled to partner with Island Harvest for this Giving Garden project,” said President of the Sisters of St. Joseph Sister Helen Kearney, CSJ. “This project is in perfect alignment with our ongoing commitment to both environmental sustainability and social justice so that the needs of all will be met.”

The Brentwood garden is consistent with Island Harvest Food Bank’s mission to bring healthier food to Long Island’s food insecure population. To date, the hunger-relief organization oversees approximately 40 “Giving Gardens” in Nassau and Suffolk counties that will yield nearly 60,000 pounds of produce this season. Island Harvest Food Bank’s partnership with Long Island’s farming community brings in nearly two million pounds of fresh fruits and vegetable each year, making it the largest farm-to-food bank program in New York State.

About Hunger and Food Insecurity on Long Island

Food insecurity is a state in which people do not get enough food on a consistent basis to provide the nutrients for active and healthy lives. It can result from the recurrent lack of access to food. More than 300,000 Long Islanders face the risk of hunger every day, according to Island Harvest Food Bank and Feeding America®, a national hunger-relief organization. People facing hunger include adults (often working two jobs), children, senior citizens, and veterans. Unable to make ends meet, they (and their children) are often forced to go without food. Approximately 70,000 individuals seek food assistance in Nassau and Suffolk counties each week through soup kitchens, food pantries and other feeding programs served by Island Harvest Food Bank.

About Island Harvest Food Bank

Island Harvest Food Bank is a leading hunger-relief organization that provides food and other resources to people in need. Always treating those it helps with dignity and respect, its goal is to end hunger and reduce food waste on Long Island through efficient food collection and distribution; enhanced hunger-awareness and nutrition-education programs; job training; and direct services targeted at children, senior citizens, veterans, and others at risk of food insecurity. As a result of Island Harvest Food Bank’s dynamic business model, more than 94 percent of expended resources go directly to programs and services that support more than 300,000 Long Islanders facing hunger. Island Harvest Food Bank is a lead agency in the region’s emergency response preparedness for food and product distribution and is a member of Feeding America®, the nation’s leading domestic hunger-relief organization. For five consecutive years, Island Harvest Food Bank has earned a four-star rating from Charity Navigator, a leading independent charity watchdog organization. Island Harvest Food Bank is among just 9% of the organizations rated by Charity Navigator to merit the four-star designation.  More information about Island Harvest Food Bank is at www.islandharvest.org.

About Sisters of St. Joseph

Located in Brentwood, NY, The Sisters of St. Joseph (CSJ) are the largest order of Catholic women religious on Long Island with more than 400 members, and have a 160-year tradition of ministering wherever they are needed including the Dioceses of Brooklyn and Rockville Centre, and the New York Archdioceses. United with all who minister with them, they seek to bring God’s healing and reconciling love to all through their work in education, health care, social justice, spirituality, empowering women and girls, and environmental conservation.

The motherhouse of the Sisters of St. Joseph in Brentwood includes 212 acres of land, some still pristine, acquired more than 100 years ago within the bioregion of Long Island. The Sisters affirmed a Land Ethic Statement on March 21, 2015 and, in response to the statement, members of the congregation have formed new partnerships on Long Island, gathered information about the Long Island bioregion, implemented new initiatives, and continued current ecological projects. For more information about the Sisters, please visit www.brentwoodcsj.org.

–Island Harvest Food Bank

For more articles out of New York, click here.

Click Here to find out more about your favorite topics

food access funding and grants gardening rural life

Spread the word

Browse More Clips

Actions to advance NY's forest industry

Blueprint for Change workshops offered

Primary Sidebar

MORE

NEW YORK CLIPS

Farm Credit East presents teen employment webinar
May 17, 2022
NRCS-NY announces application cutoff dates for Conservation Stewardship Program
May 17, 2022
milk dairy schools (m01229, Flickr/Creative Commons)
NMPF: FDA officials agree, nutrition’s a problem for plant-based faux dairy
May 17, 2022
Northeast SARE seeks grant preproposals for $5M in sustainable ag funding
May 17, 2022
New York 4-H members take part in national tractor program
May 17, 2022
  • Trending
  • Latest

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE...

Agsplosion brings agriculture to local students
May 17, 2022
7 tips for growing big tomatoes
May 17, 2022
NRCS-NY announces application cutoff dates for Conservation Stewardship Program
May 17, 2022
What is the current research about soil additions to help soil biology?
May 17, 2022
Northeast SARE seeks grant preproposals for $5M in sustainable ag funding
May 17, 2022

Footer

MORNING AG CLIPS

  • Sponsors
  • About Us
  • Advertise with Us
  • Privacy Statement
  • Terms of Service
  • Customer & Technical Support

CONNECT WITH US

  • Like Us on Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

TRACK YOUR TRADE

  • Markets & Economy
  • Cattle Updates
  • Dairy News
  • Policy & Politics
  • Corn Alerts

QUICK LINKS

  • Account
  • Portal Membership
  • Invite Your Friends
  • Subscribe to RSS
  • WeatherTrends
  • Just Me, Kate

© 2022 Morning Ag Clips, LLC. All Rights Reserved.