Family Meal Program
Neighbors Feeding Neighbors: Delivering Nutritious Meals to Families in Need
Food Insecurity is defined as not having adequate access to enough food to live an active, healthy life
The Challenge we are addressing:
One in five Sullivan County children does not get enough to eat.
Seventeen percent of our 78,000 residents live below the poverty line.
20% of children are food insecure.
Missing meals can be temporary or long-term and can be caused by poverty, unemployment, school closures, high housing & food costs, chronic health conditions, systemic racism and discrimination. Any or all of these challenges often force people to make the unthinkable choice between buying food for their families or paying for essential household expenses such as heat and car repairs. The resulting hunger and poor health can jeopardize a child's ability to learn and grow.
Many families in our community lack financial means, nutrition education, transportation, or a combination of barriers to access nutritious food.
“Food Insecurity isn't unique to Sullivan County, but it's complicated by our rural setting.”
— Audrey Garro, Executive Director of A Single Bite
Over the past 5 years, we have developed our production and delivery system to reach as many children as possible with our Family Meal Program. The result is happy children with full bellies. Each meal costs $3 per person and is packed with nutritious local food and prepared from scratch by our Chef because everyone deserves to eat well.
Our Solution: The Family Meal Program
Sullivan County is a rural mountainous county in upstate New York with a total area of 997 square miles (619,520 acres).
A Single Bite prepares and delivers over 900 servings of food to children and their families suffering from food insecurity each week. Each Family Meal serves three people at a cost of $10 per container. Meals are made from scratch using local ingredients and portions are provided to meet the needs of individual family size.
Our Family Meal Program is supported by our volunteers, who pick up and deliver each of the meals to our families. Since January 2025, the demand for the Family Meal Program has increased by 30%, demonstrating both the growing need in our community and the trust families place in our mission.
Our Expanded Capacity
In early 2023, A Single Bite assumed operations at the Sullivan Catskills Regional Food Hub — a 5,000-square-foot facility in Liberty, NY. With this expansion, and a newly constructed commercial kitchen, we are now able to provide even more meals to families and children in need.
“We have never had to say no to a family with children in need of free meals, and this space will help us to make sure we never do.”
How It Works
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We try to source as much of our product as possible locally. Our meals are made with product both purchased and donated. We are grateful to have several farmers who grow product specifically for us and our family meal programs.
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Over 903 meals go out every week. This takes planning, preparation and a whole lot of love. With our new commercial kitchen, we have enough capacity to feed any child and their family in our county that needs help.
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Packing up the free meals is a large and complicated process, and one that we rely on many volunteers for. Meals are adjusted based on the size of the family and age of the children and then custom labeled by delivery route.
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35 volunteers help us to deliver meals over 900 meals across 619,520 acres (that’s 968 square miles).
