Dear Friends,
Be willing to start small. That’s what I often tell people who approach me about starting their own nonprofit. And if the past ten years have taught me anything, it’s don’t wait for everything to be big or perfect.
Meaningful work usually begins small.
Second Chance Foods started with three moms, our own personal vehicles, a couple of food donors, and a small group of hunger relief organizations. What began as a grassroots effort has grown into an organization that has recovered more than 2.8 million pounds of food that might otherwise have gone to waste, nourishing our neighbors instead.
Yet the impact I’m most proud of isn’t always easy to quantify. Sometimes it’s something small, like including flowers that brighten someone’s day. Sometimes it’s something profound, like providing food that a cancer patient going through chemotherapy can finally keep down. Or sharing healthy meals with a senior who now sees half her paycheck go toward electricity bills.
These moments don’t always show up neatly in data, but they matter in ways numbers can’t capture.
That same kind of impact lives in the community that has formed around this work, the volunteers who show up, care deeply, and support one another, making all of this possible. The numbers on this page highlight the impact we never imagined possible as Second Chance Foods has grown and adapted to best serve our community.
Our story is a reminder that meaningful change doesn’t have to start big. It starts locally, with people willing to act—like you.
Thank you for being a key part of our impact over the years. We hope you continue to join us as we grow, committed to reshaping hunger relief to better honor dignity, improve access, and ensure nutrition is part of the solution.
With you alongside us, a zero-hunger community is not just a vision, but something we are actively creating.
With gratitude,
One of the most unique things about Second Chance Foods is The Kitchen! Last year, we increased our meal production by 40%! Because our meals help reduce barriers to accessing healthy food and make it easy to eat healthy food, we’re always working to grow this side of our operations. That’s why in 2026, our goal is to cook over 195,000 meals and increase partnerships to help distribute these meals.
Last year, we rescued a total of 600 THOUSAND pounds of food from our partners—24% more than 2024! About 10% of the surplus we collect is not usable so we compost it or feed it to livestock when possible. The rest is sorted for different uses: food to cook, food to freeze (for later use), and the 383,075 pounds that were connected directly to our hunger relief partners.
The math is simple—more volunteers = more meals! Last year we had over 476 individual volunteers give 36% more time than the year before.
Watch the recording of our special online presentation about the history and future of Second Chance Foods. As we reflect on our first decade as a nonprofit we shared the top five lessons we learned followed by a brief Q&A.
Like a CSA box, our signature CSN box program provides weekly deliveries of freshly prepared nutritious meals and groceries such as produce, eggs, dairy, bread, and other perishable staples. Recipients can pick up boxes in a drive-through setting or have them delivered by volunteers from Mount Carmel Bible Church. Launched in April 2020 to support vulnerable neighbors during the pandemic, it quickly proved to be an essential service that continues growing as the need for accessible, alternative hunger relief solutions remains higher than ever.
Reducing food waste is the third most impactful way to reverse climate change. At Second Chance Foods, we see the dual problems of food waste and hunger as connected solutions. Food waste is a lost opportunity to feed those experiencing hunger and the reason why our innovative solution works to create a stronger, more resilient food system. Read more about the problem of food waste here and how our work is making a difference below!
Using the online ReFed Insights Engine Calculator, in 2025 our recovery efforts have helped avoid the same amount of C02 produced by 88 cars driving for a full year! Over our 10 year history, we’ve avoided the equivalent of
Using the online ReFed Insights Engine Calculator, in 2025 our recovery efforts saved enough water to fill 67 olympic sized pools. Over the past 10 years, our work saved nearly 210 trillion gallons of water equal to 320 olympic sized pools!
In 2024, we took a meaningful step to cut waste and protect the environment by switching to compostable packaging wherever feasible.
Nearly 290,000 pounds of food rescued over 10 years and saved from the landfill by composting or shared with our partners to feed farm animals.
Recycling all eligible materials has long been a core operational practice and no matter what we’re doing, from hosting an event or even our impact mailer (recycled paper with soy ink!), we always consider our environmental impact.
Our Current and Past Putnam County Partners include:
Our Current and Past Dutchess County Partnerships include:
Our Current and Past Westchester Partners include:
Our Current and Past Orange County Partnerships include:
Our Current and Past partners in Connecticut includes:
*ALICE (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed) are individuals and families who are employed yet still live paycheck to paycheck, often forced to make impossible choices between food, housing, health care, and other basic necessities.
40% increase over 2024! Added two cooking days and additional culinary staff.
Increased Staff to Full-Time Culinary Director and moved into our larger food rescue hub + kitchen.
Hired Part-Time Kitchen Manager resulting in 37% more meals than before!
Two new walk-in coolers increased our ability to recover food and cook more meals.
Donations from the Cornell Cooperative Extension of Orange Glean Mobile increase the ingredients available to cook with.
Shifted from an hourly kitchen rental to full-time access to a kitchen.
Began year-round meal preparation, with cooking occurring throughout the year as ingredient availability allowed.
Continued cooking during the growing season only, but almost doubled our output from the prior year.
Six volunteers made the first batch of carrot ginger soup and our cooking program was launched.
Piloted in 2022 in partnership with Cornell Cooperative Extension of Putnam (CCEP) Bountiful Meals stocks freezers in Putnam County with nourishing ready-to-eat meals cooked fresh in the Second Chance Foods Kitchen.
Inspired by the success of our Putnam County Bountiful Meals we’ve launched a similar ready-to-eat meal program in Westchester.
Both Bountiful Meals and Nourishing Meals will continue to stock the 11 active freezers in 2026 and we expect to add more than two new freezers/access points this year.
The math is simple. More volunteers=more meals
Without volunteers, we’d need to hire more than 10 staff members to achieve the same outputs.
Over 476 individual volunteers helped in 2025 by dicing, slicing, cooking, cleaning, packaging, driving, gleaning, and so much more! Whether they gave three hours or 500 hours, every single volunteer helped make a difference.
This Hudson Valley Gives, we’re raising $100,000 to support the rapid growth of our organization. Every week we’re working to increase the total pounds of groceries we rescue, meals we cook, partners we connect with fresh food, and individuals we nourish.
More than growth—it’s transformation. And it’s driven by an urgent truth we hear from nearly every hunger-relief partner we serve: “We need more.” As we work to scale and meet this need, we need your help. Our ability to keep up with this rising demand depends on an essential ingredient: you.
This special evening isn’t just about raising funds – it’s an opportunity to celebrate the incredible impact we’ve made together.
Join us to learn about how we’ve grown this year and the difference we’ve made in the lives of those we serve.
Enjoy delicious food prepared by our dedicated volunteers (using the same recipes we use to nourish our recipients), the return of our famous grazing board, a signature cocktail and open bar, live music, and a silent auction.
Tickets go on sale in August—we look forward to celebrating with you!
As we look to the future, we plan to deepen our partnerships with food donors to rescue more high-quality food and transform it into nourishing meals or fresh groceries. We will continue to strengthen community health, reduce food waste, and ensure that everyone has reliable access to nutritious food by expanding our programs into new underserved communities. Our work will center dignity and choice in every interaction, building a more equitable food system—one where zero hunger is a reality.
In 2025, we expanded our ready-to-eat meals into Westchester County, making nutritious, prepared meals more accessible to those in need. To support this growth, we welcomed two new staff members, strengthening our ability to rescue, prepare, and distribute fresh, high-quality food throughout the region.
In April we moved to our new Food Rescue Hub and Kitchen, allowing us to cook more food, store additional groceries, run programs concurrently, and, most important, connect more nourishing food with the community we serve.
In partnership with CCE Putnam, our Bountiful Meals program was launched in senior centers, expanding access points to distribute healthy meals without barriers. Our staff expanded to six employees, significantly increasing our capacity and impact.
Continuing to support our growth, we added two walk-in coolers and a part-time development staff.
Our distribution and cooking grew significantly to meet the ongoing increase in hunger. We also expanded our rental space and added our first part-time Operations Assistant.
An innovative year as we responded to the challenges of the global pandemic.
New programs were quickly developed, and our Community Supported Nutrition boxes began.
Program partnerships expanded to include interns with developmental disabilities, cooking grows to year-round work, and a Mobile Cooler provides more flexibility and growth to rescue.
60 pounds of imperfect carrots launched our prepared meals program: cooking farm fresh-produce to make healthy eating easy and delicious!
Second Chance Foods officially became a nonprofit and began rescuing food from grocery stores. 1,125 pounds were recovered in the first six weeks!
Though we wish we could supply food to everyone in need, Second Chance Foods cannot provide meals or groceries directly to individuals. Our solution is to collaborate with existing programs in the community and supplement their food with our meals and groceries. If you or someone you know is in need of assistance, please refer to our resource page here for our partnerships and local options.
120 Marvin Ave
Brewster, NY 10509
Volunteer Questions contact Volunteer Coordinator Melissa Paladino 845-723-1309
For all other questions please contact us at 845-723-1315
