Putnam Seeks Solutions to Food Insecurity

By Rob Sample

Putnam County regularly ends up on lists of the most wealthy counties in both the U.S. and in the state. Yet, studies have shown that one in nine Putnam residents are affected by food insecurity.

During a recent meeting of the County Legislature’s Health Committee, lawmakers discussed ways to resolve the resource shortages that keep food insecurity a nagging public concern. Committee Chairwoman Nancy Montgomery, D-Philipstown, noted that taking action was made critical by the federal government’s recent suspension of funding for Port Chester-based Meals on Main Street, which served locations in Putnam.

“My goal tonight is to listen, gather information, identify gaps, and better understand how county government can support the incredible work already happening throughout Putnam,” she said. “I want to acknowledge that many of the people in this room are volunteers of small organizations operating under tremendous strain, and we appreciate your work and the compassion you bring to our communities.”

Department of Social Services Commissioner Sarah Servido provided legislators with an overview of the service landscape.

“We’re hearing through my department that individuals on the western side of the county… feel resources are difficult to get to,” she said. That’s mainly because of transportation issues, but increases in food prices have exacerbated the situation, according to Servido.

Seniors are perhaps most acutely affected.

“Our senior and disabled residents often get denied SNAP benefits because of excess income, or they get the minimum in SNAP of $24 a month,” said Servido. “So, we really try to fill the gap. We do have a small food pantry… We frequently get donations from constituents for grocery store gift cards and those have been extremely helpful, especially over the past 12 or 14 months.”

Martha Elder, a Kent resident who heads Second Chance Foods, agreed that access is the biggest issue faced by food providers.

“We live in a very rural county with limited transportation options,” she said. “One of our programs, our community-supported nutrition boxes, distributes about a third of those boxes through church volunteers to people’s homes because there are a lot of homebound, or people who just don’t have transportation.”

Elder noted that surveys of ALICE data (asset-limited, income-constrained employed) indicate that with the high cost of living in Putnam, there is a big gap between people’s resources and eligibility criteria for government assistance.

“That’s why Second Chance Foods puts freezers in places like libraries and the senior centers, so that anybody can access those meals – no questions asked, no paperwork,” she said.

Legislature Chairman Dan Birmingham, R-Brewster, noted that a line item in the 2026 budget has $150,000 in funding that’s available to countywide food-assistance organizations.

“That’s probably well below the need that’s out there, but that’s what we have now,” he said. “I can’t speak to the 2027 budget, (but) we’re going to be getting a budget document from the county executive probably in the beginning of October,” which might provide information on future funding.  

Melissa O’Leary, director of Putnam Community Action Partnership, said her organization serves 450 families each month via its Brewster food pantry. CAP also operates a soup at First Baptist Church in the village, which is open four days a week and serves 70 meals per day.

“We service the entire county, but obviously it’s very hard for us to do so on the western side of the county,” said O’Leary. “We partner with other food pantries and other community resources to meet those needs. Obviously, the demand is increasing.”

O’Leary said the organization struggles with having enough cold storage space. “We would love to be able to offer more milk, more eggs, more perishable items,” she said. “We do offer those things, but we would love to have more cold storage to increase that amount.”

She also noted that the organization was approved for an American Rescue Plan Act grant to purchase a vehicle, but the amount was insufficient to cover the purchase as well as the costs for drivers, gas, and maintenance, so it was forfeited.

Kiko Lattu, coordinator of the Philipstown Food Pantry, noted that the area is home to several mobile home parks, which are largely occupied by seniors on limited incomes.

“Many pantry guests visit frequently – often weekly – indicating ongoing food insecurity,” said Lattu. “Over the course of 2025, we saw a slow, steady increase in both new and returning clients with a notable uptick in the last quarter of 2025. January, February, March, pantry utilization increased 41 percent compared to the same period last year.”

Stacy Farley operates two farms in Philipstown that provide an unusual solution to hunger: donating fresh produce to area soup kitchens and food pantries.

“We’re trying to grow as much food as we can and give it away as fast as we can,” she said. “Our second field that we farm is in the Town of Philipstown, which belongs to the town… We grow an acre of sweet potatoes and a little bit of butternut squash. Once a year we have a townwide dig where we dig it up and give it to over 21 different pantries and soup kitchens and banks.”

Montgomery announced the formation of a new countywide group called the Putnam County Hunger & Food Access Coalition, which would serve to coordinate government and volunteer resources to address food insecurity countywide.

“Hopefully, I’ll have that formulated by the next Health Committee meeting,” she said. “This is the first of many discussions – and it’s a really important issue.”