Area food distribution for holiday ingredients, meals

A large distribution of Thanksgiving mean ingredients - and Thanksgiving meals - will be held later this month.

More than a dozen pick-up and drop-off locations were named during an Oct. 21 press conference at the Regional Food Bank Orange County Distribution Center in Montgomery.

According to a press release, the Regional Food Bank will provide 115,000 Thanksgiving meals to 25,000 people in Orange, Dutchess, Ulster, Rockland, and Sullivan counties. About 800 community volunteers will join the organization’s staff, sponsors and partners to help hand out Thanksgiving Day bags of ingredients to allow families to cook their own holiday meal at home. The 30-pound plus bag will have turkey, cranberry sauce, stuffing mix, gravy, vegetables, fruit, potatoes and dessert sourced from local partners. Thanksgiving meals will also be delivered to a dozen senior citizen sites throughout the Hudson Valley.

”With the support of our sponsors, food industry partners, and volunteers we are taking the monumental step of feeding all of our neighbors in need throughout our 23-county service area this Thanksgiving,” Regional Food Bank CEO Tom Nardacci said during the press conference. “We know the need is greater than ever, especially with the federal spending cuts this year which eliminated more than seven million pounds of food to our region, or more than 5.8 million meals. This is the largest Thanksgiving distribution in the state and we could not do it without the tremendous support from the lower Hudson Valley to the Capital Region to the North Country.”

The Orange County distribution pickup locations are the Regional Food Bank at 580 State Rt. 416 in Montgomery and Mount Saint Mary College at 330 Powell Ave. in Newburgh. Walk-up prepared meals will be served at The Salvation Army, located at 234 Van Ness St. in Newburgh.

The Regional Food Bank is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization that collects donated food from the food industry and distributes it to more than 1,000 partners feeding neighbors in need in 23 counties of northeastern New York. The food provided by the Regional Food Bank helps to feed over 350,000 people each month. In 2024, the Food Bank distributed more than 54 million pounds of food, enough for 45 million meals.

For more information about its mission and programs, log onto regionalfoodbank.net.