It’s hard to quiet your mind when your stomach is empty, and there’s no food in sight.
When your body is not nourished, neither is your mind. The consequences can be traumatic.
For Michael Spano Jr., this is more than just a concept. It’s a lived reality he has witnessed as Westchester neighbors struggle to meet their most basic needs.
When asked about the connection between hunger and mental health, he didn’t hesitate:
“Try not eating for a day and see how you feel,” says Michael, CEO and Founder of Yonkers Health Corporation, better known as Y-Health.
With extensive experience in the mental health needs of Westchester County residents, Michael has developed a deep understanding of the barriers that prevent people from achieving mental wellness.
His work on Westchester’s mobile crisis team has exposed him to the unseen struggles behind mental illness—ones that stem from unmet basic needs like housing, healthcare, and even food.
He turned those experiences into action by creating a system that makes mental health resources more accessible to his community. With a mission to reduce wait times for serious mental illness, Y-Health uses technology to deliver innovative solutions for social workers, therapists, psychiatrists, and other mental health professionals.
This work has given Michael a heightened awareness of how life circumstances—especially unmet needs—can profoundly affect a person’s mental well-being.
Speaking about his work on the mobile crisis team, he explains:
“A big problem we saw for people with serious mental illness was that a lot of the issues weren’t just about getting connected to mental health treatment. It was the whole range of social determinants of health: housing, healthcare, and food.”
Michael puts it plainly:
“Not having food… creates that domino effect, where someone’s life can really go downhill pretty quickly.”
So, how can this domino effect be interrupted?
Feeding Westchester provides one crucial layer of support by stepping in at the most foundational level—ensuring access to food so neighbors have the stability they need to keep every other part of their lives steady, including their minds.
Michael emphasizes how interconnected these support systems truly are:
“All of the different support services that exist are compatible with each other. Having the right healthcare, the mental healthcare, the right food sources—they all complement one another. That’s what Y-Health has been trying to do too: establish ways to find those resources and make that information more accessible to everyone.”
Fortunately for Westchester County, dedicated professionals like Michael and organizations like Feeding Westchester help fill the gaps in the crucial needs of our community members.
The result is a growing awareness that no one should have to make the daunting decision of choosing between mental wellness and a meal.
When a person’s mental health suffers, so does their quality of life. That’s why professionals like Michael work to care for the mind, while organizations like Feeding Westchester work to end hunger.
Together, this joint effort nourishes both body and mind—so our neighbors don’t just survive, but thrive.
