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Hunger Fact: 1 in 4 households with children in New York State report inability to afford enough food
Hunger is a serious problem that effects people near and far, and the Tioga County Open Door Mission feels passionately about addressing the concern of hunger in our community. Our food panty in Owego is the largest food pantry in Tioga County. In our Owego food pantry alone we serve 3 to 4 thousand meals each month. In addition to these meals we serve many more through our homeless shelter and second food pantry in Lockwood.
Hunger Fact: 49.1 million Americans are living in food insecure households.
Many of the people that the Mission serve in our food pantries are the working poor, people that are trying their best to make ends meet with what they have but are struggling. Children and the elderly are both populations that we often sever in our pantries. A common trend in our food pantries are hardworking grandparents doing all that they can to raise and meet the needs of their young grandchildren.
Hunger Fact: In 2013, 2.9 million (9%) households with seniors experienced food insecurity. 1.1 million (9%) households composed of seniors living alone experienced food insecurity
Rural counties often struggle with meeting the needs of the hungry due to the fact that resources can be a struggle for people to get transportation to. Due these struggles the Mission feels that it is important to bring resources to rural communities whenever possible, this is why we have opened a second food pantry in Lockwood, NY. At the Mission we work with a number of other local organizations to help direct people to the closest pantry in their area to help all get access to the food they need. The Mission strongly believes that in order to fight hunger, organizations must work together to serve their community. We are proud to help support twelve local food pantries and soup kitchens with food. In addition, the Mission provides a home deliveries to the home-bound.
Hunger Fact: 15 percent of rural households are food insecure, or an estimated 3.0 million households
Everything that the Mission is able to do through our food pantries and our Outreach programs is due to the wonderful support that we receive from our community. If you are interested in donating to our food pantries or would like to hold a food drive please call us at (607)687-1121.Thank you everyone that has donated to our food pantries and thrift stores! If you or someone you know is need of our services please explore our Outreach tab above for more importation about the services that we offer.