About Us
Just Released: A Report to the Community
We are so proud to release our most recent Report to the Community showing the incredible impact that our organization, in conjunction with the countless volunteers has achieved over the past year. Every dollar that is entrusted to us by donors is stretched far and wide to support the health and wellbeing of the children and their families in Sullivan County. Thank you for your support.
We picture a day when hunger and food insecurity cease to exist. When our neighbors and their children do not have nights when they go to bed hungry.
Through all of our programs, we hope to change the trajectory of our children's lives by inspiring them to make healthy food choices. We teach young people the difference between real and processed food. We feed our neighbors. We partner with schools and like-minded organizations to collect and distribute healthy food to those who need it most.
Understanding Our Community Challenge
Food insecurity is not unique to Sullivan County, but it is complicated by our rural setting.
Sullivan County ranks 57 out of 62 counties in New York statewide health rankings, according to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation County Health Rankings & Roadmap. And of the nearly 80,000 residents of the county, 24% of the children live in poverty and suffer from food insecurity. According to our founders, Sims & Kirsten Foster of Foster Supply Hospitality, this was unacceptable in their community and they decided that they needed to act. A Single Bite was started in 2019 and has grown significantly since then.
What started in Sullivan County has become a model for how communities can come together around real food, nutrition education, and local partnerships.
We believe this approach can make a difference far beyond our own backyard. If you're interested in bringing A Single Bite to your community, we'd love to start the conversation.
Where it All Started
We began our four-part educational program in Sims' hometown, Livingston Manor, teaching children the difference between real and processed food and empowering them to make the right choices. This educational program is still at the core of the organization and includes a field trip to a local farm to understand where real food comes from, and culminates with a meal at one of the FSH restaurants, where students and teachers are able to sit down together and break bread.
There is a deep connection between A Single Bite and Foster Supply Hospitality, the business our founders built here where their family's roots date back over 100 years. Long a tourist destination, the Sullivan Catskills is on a positive trajectory. And yet, our county continues to be one of the poorest in New York State.
As parents of two young ones, the thought of children going to bed hungry, let alone trying to learn on an empty stomach was too much to bear. That's when their purpose crystallized: use their hospitality background to help our neighbors and affect a change in health through nutrition.
Our Founders
“How can we expect great things from our children if we fail to give them the basic needs required to survive, let alone thrive”
““When we returned to my hometown to run small hotels and restaurants, Kirsten
and I found there were other mouths to feed.””
Our Team
Audrey Garro, Executive Director
Liz Stretch, Real Food Education Manager
Erik Howard, Culinary Associate
Jonathan Martinez, Executive Chef
Cynthia “Sam” Bugna, Manager of Programs, Projects, People
Jennifer Bitetto, Real Food Logistics Manager
Dan Berger, Sous Chef
Our Board of Directors
Sims Foster, Co-Founder & Chairperson
Co-Founder of Foster Supply Hospitality
Barbara Nanovic Garigliano, Esq., Secretary
Attorney, Blustein, Shapiro, Frank & Baron, LLP
Mark McLewin, Director
President of Combined Properties of Sullivan County, Inc. and PennyWise Properties, as well as Co-Owner of the Neversink General Store.
Kirsten Harlow Foster, Co-Founder & Vice Chairperson
Co-Founder of Foster Supply Hospitality
Nancy Notaro, Director
Global Technology Sales, Microsoft
Grant Advisor to the Dr. David M. Milch Foundation
Jennifer Grimes, Treasurer
Principle, Country House Realty
Todd Ehrling, Director
Director of Hudson Valley AgriBusiness Development Corporation
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