A push to feed Red Hook’s hungry – and raise as much as $20,000 for them in the process – is underway inside each Red Hook Central School District building.
The annual Nourish Your Neighbor campaign kicked off Oct. 27, with each school building collecting non-perishable food items and personal care products to be donated to food banks and pantries around Red Hook. Bins are located in each building. The effort is a collaboration between the Red Hook Faculty Association and The Ascienzo Family Foundation.
As it did last year, the Ascienzo Foundation is pledging $2 per item donated, with a goal of giving $20,000. Last year, the foundation donated $11,924 through the nearly 6,000 items donated by Red Hook students, families and staff.
The drive runs through Dec. 5, helping feed those in need for both the Thanksgiving and December holidays. Each week, staff collects the donations from the bins and posts the totals on bulletin boards. Linden Avenue Middle School collected the highest number a year ago.
The items are ultimately given to five food banks operated by St. John’s Reformed Church, Red Hook United Methodist Church, St. Christopher’s Church, Red Hook Responds and Community Action Partnership for Dutchess County’s Red Hook location.