The war against hunger and food insecurity is not a new one, in fact many well-respected world leaders and thinkers have made many impactful statements about it in the past. One quote that comes to mind was once said by French philsopher Simone Weil.

“It is an eternal obligation toward the human being not to let him suffer from hunger when one has a chance of coming to his assistance,” she said.

Third world countries are extremely hard hit, but the truth of the matter is while it may exist to a greater extent in those places, many in our country, states and own backyards are also suffering.

The question we are then tasked with is what are we going to do to help?

While there are many impactful local organizations that are making a difference, such as A Single Bite (www.asinglebite.org) and Sullivan County Federation for the Homeless (www.scfederation.org) – which we also implore you to learn more about – today, we are going to focus on the work of the Sullivan Fresh Community Cupboard.

Late last month we published an article on the front page titled, “Community Cupboard revisited,” which was a follow-up to a story we had done at the beginning of the pandemic.

To refresh your memory, in response to the pandemic, Cornell Cooperative Extension Sullivan County (CCE) and Sullivan Allies Leading Together (SALT) procured a refrigerated van for door-to-door food distribution and community outreach.

This van, now named the Sullivan Fresh Community Cupboard, has delivered enough food and prepared meals – more than 250,000 free meals and personal necessities – to folks in need from all walks of life, across Sullivan County since March 2020.

According to CCE, one in ten Sullivan Catskills residents faced food insecurity before the start of the pandemic. They now estimate that 60-70 percent more people in our community are struggling to access fresh and healthy food.

The work of CCE and SALT in this endeavor, as well as local volunteers and the aforementioned organizations working tirelessly to find food insecurity in our community, are truly an inspiration.

If you’d like to assist the Sullivan Fresh Cmmunity Cupboard, there are many ways to get involved. The first is to donate non-perishable food items to CCE Sullivan County, located at 64 Ferndale-Loomis Road in Liberty. To donate farm fresh perishables, contact 845-292-6180 ext. 116 to make arrangements.

Another way to help out is by making a donation at sullivancce.org/donate.

You can also assist by spreading the word and by volunteering to pick up donations, prepare food boxes, make deliveries, and more. For more info, email mc2224@cornell.edu.

If you have the time and/or the means to help, please consider it. By doing so you will give hope to local families who need it.