Our Programs

Our kitchen, local restaurants and catering kitchens prepare trays of food which our volunteers portion out into containers to make up the meals we deliver to homes and distribution sites around Port Chester. Some meals also feed other communities in need.

Volunteer Opportunity

Arrive at St. Peter’s Church and enter the cafeteria through the entrance in the parking lot. You will assist in the preparations of individual and family-style meals. Trays of cooked food will be provided and you will be asked to serve the food from the trays into either individual meal containers or larger containers for a family of four-to-six. These containers will then be labeled and packed for delivery or frozen for later distribution.

Your contact will be Gino Rodriguez.

Availability

Monday
Mornings 10:00 a.m. - noon

Tuesday – Wednesday - Friday
Mornings 9:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.

Location

St. Peter’s Church Cafeteria

(Parking lot entrance off Westchester Avenue)

We began making deliveries to homes at the start of the pandemic with a list of 70 families. By the end of 2020 the list had grown to 90 and then early in 2021, to 110 families. We believe this will continue to be one aspect of our service to the community, serving those who are shut-in, quarantined or elderly.

Volunteer Opportunity

Arrive at 509 North Main Street in your vehicle on or close to 10 a.m.. Volunteers will place labeled bags in your trunk and provide you with a list of addresses to deliver the bags to. Deliver to the doorstep of the client and let them know the bag(s) have arrived. If you do not get someone, just leave a message. If you feel uncomfortable using your phone to make the call, just let us know and we will call for you.

Your contact will be Irma Arango.

Availability

Saturday mornings

Location

509-511 North Main Street
Port Chester, NY 10573

In 2020, we piloted the program with weekly visits to two neighborhood sites, one in the center of the village and one at Weber Drive. The goal of the pilot program was to determine how quickly and effectively we could distribute produce and other perishable food items within the critical 72-hour window from donation to table. Time matters. The quicker we distribute, the less waste we have and the more people we feed. Our goal is to expand the program to include 10 delivery sites per week.

Volunteer Opportunity

Show up at Pop-Up location and assist in setting up and helping clients shop for groceries. Presently, we are scheduled for weekly pop-ups at Weber Drive, but we are planning on adding more, so check here or on our schedule for changes.

Availability

Thursday afternoons or as scheduled

Location

Weber Drive or St. Peter’s Church as indicated

Student Advisory Council Projects

In order to stay engaged and involved during the pandemic, we have solicited the help of a growing number of interested high school and college students to come up with meaningful projects around the theme of ending food insecurity.

Volunteer Opportunity

If you are interested in earning community service credits while working independently, virtually via Zoom, sign up and we will schedule a call to let you know what we are working on.

Availability

Thursday
Afternoons as Scheduled

Location

Zoom

Bake and wrap Cookies - Caritas Winter Bake Off

This is one of the Student Advisory Council ideas. Interested students can bake cookies and bag them (2-4 in a small plastic bag) and drop them off for us to include with the meals we prepare daily. Drop off times for donations are listed on our calendar, but please sign up as well to let us know you are baking for us.

Volunteer Opportunity

Here is the link to the flyer the group put together about the bake-off.

Availability

Your Schedule

Location

Work from home

Collect and Drop Off Fresh Direct Bags

One of our young volunteers, Nolan James, came up with the idea to have folks donate their Fresh Direct bags to us so we could fill them with food for delivery to families in need. He then contacted Fresh Direct and his idea got the company to promote the program nationally so food pantries and soup kitchens everywhere can have a supply of these bags for deliveries.

Volunteer Opportunity

If you have some of these bags piling up at home, you can donate them to us. Just let us know when you will be stopping by.

Availability

Wednesday or Friday
Afternoon between 2 and 2:30

Location

509-511 North Main Street
Port Chester, NY 10573