This year, to tackle hunger this month particularly, the Regional Food Bank of Northeastern New York and the New York State Restaurant Association are collaborating on the Holiday Hunger Appeal program.

This is the 39th year of this holiday program that aims to help feed families during this season and runs until Christmas Eve. It is the food bank’s largest and most popular public fundraiser where the aim is to get to as many families as possible. The Regional Food Bank of Northeastern New York supports over 350,000 people each month and provides over 40 million meals annually across 23 counties in New York.

“What hits at my heartstrings here is that there’s families who are making a tough choice right now," said Tom Nardacci, CEO of Regional Food Bank of Northeastern New York. "They're trying to decide whether that they fill their grocery cart this week or if they buy gifts and put them to keep under the tree for their kids, you know, and there's kids who just aren't going to have the food that they need on a regular basis, never mind at a holiday meal. So it’s really a time of year where we need people who are charitable, who are generous to step up and help."

In this campaign, every dollar that is donated will provide four meals to families. This does not just impact families below the poverty line. According to Feeding America, about 32.8% of food insecure people in the food bank’s service area do not qualify for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits. That’s about 100,000 individuals.

“You know, we have a warehouse with food in it," Nardacci said. "We're distributing this food. We're trying to make sure that it gets out to food pantries and programs and neighborhoods in communities. But we need more and we need more support to make sure that we can get the food out to people who need it."

The New York State Restaurant Association says it is very proud to participate in this effort. Participating restaurants have QR codes that will take you to a link to donate to the holiday hunger appeal program. It hopes to make the process of donating easy, and the association’s hope is to fill that gap and get those needed donations in time before Christmas.