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Assemblyman Michael Durso with volunteers and staff from Island Harvest in West Babylon Saturday (Island Harvest)
WEST BABYLON, NY Food banks across Long Island experienced record shortfalls of donations and increased need throughout the pandemic. To bridge the gap, Island Harvest relied on purchasing needed food through state and federal programs. Now, the organization is launching an outreach initiative to return to a donation-led model.
Jaime Miglino Franchi is the government relations liasion for Island Harvest and she told Patch that in 2020 the food bank had a 47% increase in meal gaps in 2020. We went from serving 300,000 people to 650,000 families, since the beginning of the pandemic, she explained.