Wegmans today presented a check totaling $25,007 to the Food Bank of Central New York during a brief ceremony on the Onondaga Community College campus. Half of that money will be used to supply nutritious food to the food pantry on campus to assist OCC students in need. The other half will support the Food Bank’s weekend backpack program in cooperation with the Syracuse City School District. This donation was the by-product of Wegmans annual “Fill the Bus” campaign which allowed its generous customers to donate money at the checkout to curb hunger in the community.
“Wegmans is committed to ensuring students and their families have the nutritious food necessary to enable them to live better, healthier lives. This initiative is one of the ways Wegmans remains dedicated to achieving that goal. The partnership with the Food Bank of Central New York and Onondaga Community College is a collaborative effort to remove food-related barriers that may distract students from focusing on their studies,” said Evelyn Ingram, Wegmans Director of Community Engagement.
“Food Bank of Central New York thanks Wegmans and their customers for their latest gift through the Fill the Bus campaign,” Karen Belcher, Food Bank Executive Director, stated. “The funds raised will support two of our partnerships that help students have access to nutritious food. The first partnership is with OCC and is important because of the misnomer that if you are attending college, that you have access to food. Funds will be going to the OCC pantry to provide nutritious foods to individuals working to obtain a college education yet struggling to put food on the table. Our second partnership is with Syracuse City School District. A portion of the funds will help support weekly distributions of bags of nutritious food for children to have on the weekend when school meals are not available.”
“We are extremely fortunate and grateful to have such outstanding, civic-minded organizations in our community. Our students who use our on-campus food pantry to help make ends meet will benefit every day throughout the academic year. Thank you to Wegmans and the Food Bank of Central New York for your support of our students and all of Central New York,” said OCC President Dr. Warren Hilton.
