Community Corner

Companies Haul Beans For Annual Food Bank Olympics

More than 17,000 pounds in total were packaged.

The Food Bank For Westchester was able to prepare more than 17,000 pounds of pinto beans for pantries as the result of its second-annual Give Back Olympics.

The event was held on May 21 and involved having five corporate teams compete to stuff the most beans into two-pound, retail-size bags, said Christine Rohatynskyj, the Food Bank's executive director. The five companies were Kraft Foods, Stop & Shop, PepsiCo, Webster Bank and MediaVest, with 20 people on each team. Stop & Shop won, packaging more than 4,000 pounds of beans, Rohatynskyj said.

The winner was presented with the Golden Scoop award at the Millwood-based charity's fifth-annual Hunger Heroes Awards Breakfast, which was June 8. The organization announced the results of the Olympics to the public last week.

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The beans packaged are available for participating pantries in Westchester to pick up, according to Rohatynskyj.

Rohatynskyj said it was "a wonderful, wonderful event and a great way for corporations to participate in fighting hunger in Westchester County.

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"I just thought it was a great and fun way. They did a very needed service for us so that we could get that food out quickly, and, you know, everybody won as a result."

Vera Kovalski, district manager for Stop & Shop, said in the Food Bank's press release: "We are honored to have won the Golden Scoop this year, but more importantly, we are humbled to be part of a larger, very important cause here in Westchester. Fighting hunger is truly everyone's responsibility,"

Food Bank For Westchester gives assistance to various pantries in the county, including in Mount Kisco.


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