Greenwich Hospital takes part in #GiveHealthy online food drive

GREENWICH — Yale New Haven Health employees and medical staff have collected over 22,550 pounds of food — including 2,823 pounds from Greenwich Hospital employees — during a #GiveHealthy online food drive.

Greenwich Hospital employees and medical staff collected enough food to provide 2,353 meals to individuals and families who rely on Neighbor to Neighbor in Greenwich and Caritas in Port Chester, N.Y., for food. In all, the health system collected enough food to provide 18,792 meals statewide.

“The pandemic has heightened the importance of collaborating with neighborhood partners to address the ever-changing needs of our communities. This donation is a small gesture compared to the outpouring of support from residents to our frontline workers during this ongoing health crisis,” said Diane Kelly, Greenwich Hospital president.

“A food drive helps to provide a full selection of healthy food items and engages the community for support,” said Margaret Goldberg, executive director of Neighbor to Neighbor. “We appreciate our special relationship with the hospital, especially at this particular time of need within our community.”

“Winter is always a difficult time of year for families living in poverty,” said Bill Cusano, executive director of Caritas. “We greatly appreciate the hospital’s generosity.”

Yale New Haven Health concluded a two-month online healthy food donation program as part of the #GiveHealthy Movement. The goal was to provide fresh fruits, vegetables and other healthy items to help hunger-relief organizations during the winter. Because the food is shipped from suppliers directly to hunger-relief organizations, donors purchased healthy items, including fresh produce.

“Food insecurity has always been a problem for people in our communities, but COVID-19’s economic impact has meant that even more people can’t afford enough food to feed themselves and their families,” said Nancy Hamson, system director of Community Health Improvement at YNHHS. “In response, YNHHS was eager to collaborate with our partners at #GiveHealthy with our first online food drive. We invited employees and medical staff throughout YNHHS to support hungerrelief organizations in the communities where they live and/or work.”

“The 42 million plus people struggling with food insecurity also face high rates of diet-related health issues — obesity, diabetes, cancer — due to a lack of access to healthy food. But a lot of food that gets donated actually worsens these health conditions. We wanted to make healthy food donations,” said Augusta Mueller, community benefit manager at Yale New Haven Health.