​Westchester Program To Help Local Restaurants During Pandemic

WHITE PLAINS, NY — Recognizing that the restaurant industry is both a significant economic driver and a tool to address hunger, Westchester County established a program to help local restaurants recover from the new coronavirus pandemic. The Community Table Partnership enables local Chambers of Commerce or non-profit agencies to apply for grants to help families struggling with food insecurity, while supporting the local restaurant industry.

The county has awarded nearly $600,000 in grants to 17 different organizations that serve 21 communities across Westchester.

Latimer said the pandemic has impacted county residents' access to nutritious food and threatened the stability of the local restaurant industry.

“ With the help of the Community Table Partnership Program, our most vulnerable families will be connected with the services and resources that they need through a true community, nonprofit, local business partnership,” he said

The Rivertowns Chamber Board Member Michelle Adams said the county is showing urgently needed leadership.

“The Community Table Partnership Grant is a forward-thinking solution that will bring together communities, keep people employed and tackle unprecedented need," she said. "Neighborhoods understand the plummeting values that follow closed restaurants, shuttered windows, and high unemployment.”

Owner and Operator of Horsefeathers in Tarrytown Julia McCue said the program will allow her establishment to continue caring for her neighbors and forming relationships that will last far beyond the virus.

“Having worked throughout the pandemic to provide meals to food insecure families, I just want to say thank you for seeing the need both within the restaurant industry, as well as our local communities," she said. This program is special because not only does it help to sustain our local restaurants, but it also helps to bring people within our communities together."

Grants that have been awarded through the Community Table Partnership Program can be used for the following:

• Food vouchers that can be redeemed at participating restaurants, to be distributed to households impacted by COVID-19.
• Distribution of cooked meals to households or individuals facing food insecurity, to be picked up or delivered to households impacted by COVID-19.

The nonprofits that have been awarded grants include:

• Tarrytown Rotary Club
• The Rivertowns Chamber
• Peekskill Rotary Club
• Caritas of Port Chester
• New Rochelle Chamber of Commerce
• Friends of Theodore Young Community Center
• Greater Ossining Chamber of Commerce
• Mexican American Small Business Association
• YWCA
• El Centro Hispano
• Community Resource Center
• Mount Vernon Chamber of Commerce
• Gullotta House
• Mount Kisco Chamber of Commerce

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