How is a food hub different from a food pantry?

Traditionally, food hubs are connection points between suppliers and distributors of food. Small farms rely on food hubs to connect them with local buyers.

Refrigerated container at Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers in Ossining, our farm-to-family food hub.

MOMS borrowed this idea and built on it, employing a refrigerated container as a receiving site for farm-fresh produce during the growing season, and recovered perishable food all year long. Food is delivered to the hub, where it is weighed, sorted, categorized and stored temporarily until it can be loaded on our Pantry Truck for distribution.

Unlike a food pantry which functions as a community store, the hub is more of a wholesale distribution point, aggregating multiple deliveries for local distributors throughout the community.