Food Insecurity Remains a Crisis in County

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Pam Mitchell volunteers at the Community Food Pantry of Sleepy Hollow/Tarrytown

November 24, 2025

By Rick Pezzullo—

Despite the reinstatement of SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) benefits, Westchester County’s largest nonprofit hunger-relief organization is stressing the food insecurity crisis is worse than ever.

In a county of about one million residents, one in three households is at risk of hunger, according to Feeding Westchester Chief Operating Officer Tami Wilson.

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“It’s just really tough for people right now,” Wilson said in a recent interview. “We just can’t keep food on the shelves.”

Feeding Westchester, which works with 175 partners throughout the county and provides food to 90 percent of the pantries in churches and other facilities, is experiencing 235,000 neighbor visits a month.

Wilson emphasized SNAP benefits are intended to just be a “government safety net” for individuals, not a permanent solution to putting food on the table.

She said many of the 74,000 SNAP recipients in Westchester run out of those benefits midway through each month.

Under the new federal restrictions, nearly nine percent of those who rely on SNAP in the county are at risk of losing eligibility.

During the federal government shutdown, Wilson said Feeding Westchester saw many of those employees in need of assistance.

Wilson said it would take two to four weeks “to see some sort of normalcy” with SNAP. She noted it’s just another financial hit Feeding Westchester has had to navigate the last two years with approximately $4 million in less federal funding.

“It’s all a ripple effect,” she said. “We’re giving to people as much as we possibly can.”

Meanwhile, many residents in the area, such as Pam Mitchell of Sleepy Hollow, are lending a hand and bagging groceries for those in need.

As a volunteer with the Community Food Pantry of Sleepy Hollow/Tarrytown, Mitchell noticed there was a shortage of grocery bags for families when they came to collect their food.

Mitchell, a resident at the Kendal on Hudson senior living community, connected with other women to collect bags that could be reused and redistributed at the pantry. At one drop-off, more than 100 bags were donated.

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