Food-A-Bago Day 4 – More Donations Helping Our Community

FACT: Broome County CHOW is now distributing more than 2.2 million meals not only in Broome County but also to other counties in the region as food pantries and meal sites are severely struggling to keep up with need.

Unaware of what CHOW stands for? Community Hunger Outreach Warehouse. CHOW is a part of the Broome County Council of Churches and has been assisting families in and around Broome County.

Here are some of the quick numbers to show you how important your non-perishable food or monetary donation makes a huge difference in our community, according to Broome Couty CHOW:

• 2 million meals are distributed annually.
• 100+ local pantries and meal sites are assisted.
• 1.7 million pounds of food recovered each year that would normally be thrown away from local grocery stores and restaurants and distributed to emergency food programs.
• 30,000 meals are distributed per summer when the kids are out of school.
• Up to 48 individuals receive job training per year.  Every quarter, up to 12 people spend 12 weeks training in the warehouse, receiving certifications, and taking life skills classes. Several program participants find meaningful employment afterward.

Thursday, November 2nd was the 4th day of our annual Food-A-Bago food drive, and it was another good day. Thanks to all who came by with a donation, including Peter, Melissa, Dennis, Lisa, Carol, Greg, Vicki, Scott, Hank, Dotie, Jennie, Dwayne, Roger, and B&D Auto Sales.

Also thanks to the Broome County Sheriff's Law Association for their generous monetary donation.

The large food bins inside the Broome County CHOW truck are filling up with food donations from our community, and we thank all who have stopped by so far!

We have a few bins left to fill with non-perishable food. We welcome you to stop by Friday anytime between 6 a.m. and 4 p.m., Saturday and Sunday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Monday, November 6 from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m.

You'll find us, along with an Oliver's of Norwich camper and the Broome County CHOW truck in the parking lot of the Weis Food Market, 1290 Upper Front Street, Binghamton.

If you can't make it out to our location, we do have Broome County CHOW barrels set up at 21st Century Pools & Spas on the Vestal Parkway, Vestal and Gary's U Pull-It on Colesville Road, Binghamton.