Community Programs

The Food Bank’s partner agencies are independently organized and operated food programs. Most partners are volunteer-based, and each contributes what they can to help alleviate hunger in their neighborhoods and communities.

Please have patience, volunteers are helping as much as they can under extremely new and concerning conditions.

Proof of Address: You may be asked to show a piece of mail that has your name and current address, and a piece of mail for each person in your household.

For children, birth certificates, report cards or doctor’s bills can be used as their proof of residence.

Income Questions: You will be asked about your income, but you will not need to show proof that you meet income guidelines.

This is asked so that the pantry staff or volunteers can help connect you to resources you may be eligible for. You will be asked to complete a form and provide basic information about your household (number of people, ages, dietary needs, etc.).

Grocery Package Size: You will be provided with a grocery package based on the size of your household. The typical package provides food for 3 meals per day for 3 days for each person in your household.

Dietary Accommodations: Your dietary needs and preferences will be accommodated as much as possible. Individual food items offered vary from site-to-site.

Frequency of Visits: The number of times that you can visit a food pantry each month is determined by the individual food pantry, because each site has different resources.

Differences:

Mobile Food Pantry distributions are organized by the Food Bank and often rotate locations to serve in areas of high need and low food access.

Fresh Foods distributions are organized by our partner agencies with their own operations, hours, and volunteers.

While items at Mobile Food Pantries and Fresh Foods distributions may be similar, they are never guaranteed to be the same. The food each program distributes comes from different sources, and inventory varies often.

Similarities:

• There are no income qualifications to participate. Just show up!
• You may be asked about your household income to help inform how we serve neighbors, but you will never be turned away for if/how you respond.
• Distributions run on a first-come, first-served basis and usually last 1 hour or until food runs out, whichever comes first.
• Almost all distributions are drive-thru formats that can also accommodate walk-ups.
• Note | There are three Fresh Foods distributions that are walk-up only:
  • Valley Worship Center, Syracuse
  • House of Providence, Syracuse
  • Christian Life Assembly, Syracuse
• Food items may include fresh produce, dairy, and bread items. Inventory varies event-to-event.

No, Food Bank of Central New York does not distribute food directly to the public at our Interstate Island Road location. The exception to this is our Food $en$e program, if you have selected to pick up your Food $en$e unit at our location during the ordering process.

Our facility delivers food to hundreds of partner programs who distribute directly to our neighbors. To locate food distributions and other access points near you, please visit our Food Finder tool.

Yes! The Fresh Foods and Mobile Food Pantry distributions are available to help neighbors supplement their food resources, including what they may receive from a pantry.

Call 211 to speak with an expert who can help connect you to resources. Every call is completely confidential.

You can also visit our Food Finder tool and input your address or zip code to explore food providers in your area.

Please Note: The Food Finder tool does not list locations in order of proximity. We recommend reviewing the entire list to find resources closest to you.

Support SNAP today! | Send a message at bit.ly/november-snap to tell your Members of Congress to fully fund the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program in November.

For every 1 meal that Food Bank of Central New York provides our communities, SNAP provides 9.

Monetary Donations | Every $1.00 given funds 3 nutritious meals for neighbors.

Food Donations | Non-perishable food donations can be dropped off to the Food Bank at 7066 Interstate Island Rd. in Syracuse during business hours. We are open Monday-Friday, 8:00am-4:30pm.

Please Note: The Food Bank cannot accept perishable food donations of any kind. All donations must be registered at the front desk. Any donations left anonymously or unattended will be discarded in compliance with Food Safety regulations.