MALONE –– More than two dozen low-income and elderly households that might have been facing food insecurity because of the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak received on Thursday a week’s worth of food –– almost all of it grown or made locally.
AdkAction, a Saranac Lake-based nonprofit organization, in partnership with the local-food promotion group The Hub on the Hill, delivered emergency food packages to the Malone Village Offices on Wednesday for redistribution to those in need in the community. The packages contained roughly a week’s worth of food –– eggs, bread, apples, healthy snacks, yogurt, greens, granola, soup, and two trays of frozen entrees –– that was purchased from eastern Adirondack farms and packed by paid local labor at the Hub on the Hill in Essex.
The two organizations plan to provide at least 100 boxes of food every week for the next 10 weeks, with deliveries in the Malone area set for Thursdays. A total of 1,000 packages — representing 15,000 meals — will be created and delivered.
The packages will be delivered in Franklin, Essex and Clinton counties, according to the AdkAction website.
Those hoping to benefit from the program are screened for eligibility through community service agencies in each county; in Franklin County, that screening is done by Community Connections.
AdkAction has launched a fundraising campaign with a goal of $55,000 to help support and possibly expand the effort. More than $47,000 was raised in the first week of the campaign, enough to support the first 850 EFPs, and the total raised so far is reported to exceed $70,000.
“I appreciate what they’re doing … to make sure our community is being taken care of at all levels,” said Malone Mayor Andrea Dumas, who helped deliver the boxes to participating households on Thursday. “The boxes are truly heart-felt food.”
The Adirondack Daily Enterprise contributed to this report.
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