Island Harvest finds a new corporate ally

In a united effort to combat hunger and food insecurity in and around Long Island, Island Harvest Food Bank, and City Harvest will work hand in hand with International Shoppes.

With airport retail and duty-free stores at John F. Kennedy Terminals 1, 5, and 8, the Valley Stream-based retailer is currently providing travelers with the opportunity to make donations to support hunger relief efforts upon checkout. Donation amounts can range anywhere from one to eight dollars, and the funds generated will be divided up evenly between Island Harvest, and its sister New York City food bank, City Harvest.

How did this all get started?

Through a mutual connection Randi Shubin Dresner, President and CEO of Island Harvest, was put in contact last year with International Shoppes co-CEOs Matt Greenbaum and Scott Halpern who Randi said “wanted to get more involved in their community.”  Randi and her team spoke with them, putting a spotlight on the ongoing problem of hunger and barriers to food access in communities across Long Island and the greater tri-state area.

The executive duo came away with a firmer understanding of the scale of Long Island’s hunger and pledged to mobilize their company’s resources and manpower to help give back and provide a broader safety net for the food needs of its staff. 

“They’re all in and invested in ending hunger and keeping this program going for as long as they can,” said Randi. “We have a great relationship. There’s a lot of regulations within the federal hospices of the airport, so we’ll see how this goes, but so far it’s going really well.”

“With our longstanding presence at the PANYNJ’s JFK Terminals 1, 5, and 8, we are committed to increasing visibility for the vital programs offered by these outstanding organizations to the traveling public,” said Halpern in a statement.

“Beyond our shared goal of fundraising to support these essential initiatives, we aspire to assist JFK airport area employees who may be facing food insecurity challenges. We aim to extend a helping hand to them and their families and offer the support they may require,” said Greenbaum in a statement.

This corporate-community partnership will help bolster the daunting task of feeding hungry families amid growing food prices and Long Island’s persistently high cost of living, noted Randi. 

“We have always been working in high demand and our demand doubled during the pandemic,” said Randi. “While coming off of the pandemic emergency, our demand numbers did go down but quite frankly, we’re as busy as ever and the demand is still great. If we’re going to solve the problem of hunger, we all need to work on this together.”