Zion Food Pantry

In the late Fall of 1999 a group of volunteers met and decided to reorganize the food distribution program at Zion. We decided that we would use a room in the parish office building as our base of operations, and we would maintain both a morning and evening program to accommodate people who worked but still needed help with their food budgets. We also decided that our criteria for people who receive the assistance would simply be, "anyone who asks for food." We kept to that criteria until the numbers of people coming for aid overwhelmed both our resources and staff. Currently, people must register, reside in 12590 zip code, and must meet income levels. No one who comes for food is ever turned away, but we refer people who are out of our area to other food programs in the county. In the past fifteen years we have constructed our own facility from an old garage on the parish grounds, been awarded funding from New York State and Episcopal Charities, and have assisted thousands of people with needed food supplies. In 2013 over twelve thousand persons received food from our facility. We are grateful to have the support of local businesses that keep us supplied with groceries, baked goods and meats. In spite of difficult financial times, we have been able to meet families' needs and also to maintain a referral service to other agencies throughout the county. Moving forward, our most pressing challenge is to find volunteers to replace the staff that has been working for the past 15 years. Food Pantry Hours: Wednesdays from 12:30-2:00; from 6:30-7:30