Hispanic Federation and Ford Team Up To Fight Hunger in the NYC Latino Community

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On Wednesday, July 20th, the Hispanic Federation and Ford Motor Company Fund launched a hunger relief initiative, Partners on the Go, through the donation of 15,000 meals to the Southside United Housing Development Fund Corp’s (Los Sures) food pantry. The main goal of this anti-hunger effort is to raise awareness of food insecurity within Latino communities and implement a grassroots hunger relief action plan to help alleviate it. NYC Councilwoman Diana Reyna was part of the announcement to lend her support to the effort.

A central component of the initiative is Ford’s donation of a Transit Connect van to the Hispanic Federation. This small cargo van, ideal for urban settings like New York City, will provide the Federation with greater mobility and support for food pantries throughout the five boroughs and to serve the growing needs of its nearly 100 member agencies.

“Ford is helping the Hispanic Federation fulfill a key need in the New York Latino community through the Partners on the Go initiative,” said Lillian Rodríguez-Lopez, President of the Hispanic Federation. “Food insecurity is a growing problem in our community.  The Transit Connect will enable us to provide additional resources to our member agencies’ anti-hunger programs.”

According to the Food Bank for NYC, two out of five (43 percent) Hispanic residents experienced difficulty affording necessary food in 2010. A recent USDA survey found that rates of food insecurity were substantially higher than the national average (14.7 percent) for Hispanic households, with 26.9 percent reporting food insecurity.

“At Ford we support programs that help improve communities,” said Jim Vella, President of the Ford Motor Company Fund and Community Services. “Through our partnership with the Hispanic Federation we are proud to help New York City families get access to essential food needs.”

Following the announcement, more than 50 families received food made possible by a monetary donation from Ford Fund.  Los Sures Food Pantry provides year-round support to some of the most vulnerable families in New York City.

“We are so grateful for Ford’s food donation, which will allow us to provide much needed meals to the more than 450 families who rely on our food pantry monthly,” said Robin Sirota Bassin, Social Service Director, Los Sures. “This donation is particularly important because our pantry shelves are literally almost bare during these tough economic times when funding is not secure.”

Through the Partners on the Go initiative, Ford and the Hispanic Federation will organize a food drive at the Hispanic Federation’s Get Up Get Moving Health Fair on Sunday, August 21st and a series of food collection activities leading up to the Thanksgiving holiday. The Transit Connect Van will travel to different locations in the five New York City Boroughs to collect food for the Hispanic Federation member agencies who manage food pantries.

The Hispanic Federation member agencies who will receive the food donations are the Coalition for Hispanic Family Services; Comunilife, Inc.; Community Association of Progressive Dominicans (A.C.D.P.); Davidson Community Center; Institute for Puerto Rican/Hispanic Elderly; Puerto Rican Family Institute; Los Sures; and Spanish Speaking Elderly Council (R.A.I.C.E.S.) 

Ford has a long history of supporting initiatives that help fight hunger. An ongoing relationship with Feeding America and Newman’s Own to support the Partnership for Hunger Relief has delivered more than 78 million meals to people in hard-to-reach communities. Ford also launched the Ford Mobile Pantries program to help social service organizations pick up and distribute food to those in need. Ford Transit Connect Vans are now used in South Florida, Atlanta, Detroit, San Antonio, Phoenix, and Nashville and for Red Cross deliveries in Nashville and San Diego.

For more information, please contact Lucia Perez Benhardt.