Senator Gillibrand Helps Package
Food for Kids for The Holidays

On December 12, U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand joined food bank executives at Feeding Westchester to package food for students ahead of the holidays.

Karen Erren, President and CEO of Feeding Westchester, helped Sen. Gillibrand pack breakfast bags for students dealing with food insecurity. Feeding Westchester provides food for 71,000 children in need each month through partnerships with local schools, daycares, libraries, and other organizations. Children receive nutritious, kid-friendly, easy-to-prepare food, when otherwise they may go without.

“With the cost of food and other necessities skyrocketing, we must work with local partners like Feeding Westchester to address food insecurity across the state,” said U.S. Senator Gillibrand. “I’ll keep fighting in Congress to make sure every child in New York always knows where their next meal is coming from.”

Senator Gillibrand, a long-standing advocate for child nutrition programs, helped pass the Keep Kids Fed Act, which allowed schools and summer meal providers to continue serving free meals, to extend meal delivery and grab-and-go options, to ease paperwork requirements, and to provide funding to help schools offset the increased cost of food and operating expenses. 

Senator Gillibrand has also laid out additional proposals to fight food insecurity, including More Options to Develop and Enhance Remote Nutrition in WIC Act, or MODERN WIC Act, which would enable women and children to certify for WIC benefits remotely, greatly easing the process. Her bipartisan Summer Meals Act would expand eligibility for free meals to more students in low-income areas and improve nutrition in rural, underserved, and hard-to-reach areas. Gillibrand is also pushing to fully fund the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program for fiscal year 2023.