Faye’s family found their food pantry by accident 15 years ago. What kept them coming back was the food, the familiar ingredients, and the way they were treated.
About 15 years ago, Faye’s nephew got on the wrong bus.
He was staying with her at the time and had set out to visit a friend. When he realized he was traveling in the wrong direction, he got off the bus and noticed several flyers posted on a nearby pole. One of them shared information about a local food pantry.
“That was the best mistake,” Faye remembers.
At the time, Faye and her family needed extra support. They regularly traveled to food pantries in the Bronx, often visiting more than one location to bring home enough food.
When her nephew brought the flyer home, everything changed.
“We never went back to the Bronx,” Faye says. “We used to go pantry hopping. Here, we don’t have to.”
The pantry, one of 175 community partners Feeding Westchester works with across the county, became a dependable source of food for Faye’s family. Each visit brings ingredients they can use to prepare complete meals: rice, chicken, fish, cereal, milk, eggs, and more.
Faye often tells neighbors just how meaningful that support can be.
“You could come to this pantry with your pantry at home empty, and when you leave here, you leave with breakfast, lunch, and dinner,” she says. “And not just for one day. You get enough to feed your family, sometimes for the whole week.”
For Faye, the food also brings moments of familiarity and joy.
Growing up in Jamaica, she knew pigeon peas as gungo peas. She had not eaten them in some time when she unexpectedly spotted them during a pantry visit.
“I came here and said, ‘Well, hello!'” she recalls. “Things I’m used to from back home just pop up here.”
Those culturally familiar foods help make the pantry feel like more than a place to pick up groceries. They offer connection to home, to family traditions, and to meals that carry meaning.
Just as important to Faye is the way people are treated.
She describes the pantry’s staff and volunteers as a “dream team,” people who consistently show up with kindness, energy, and respect.
“They’re amazing. They’re so nice,” Faye says. “They never make anybody feel unwanted or unwelcome.”
That welcoming spirit is why she encourages neighbors who may be hesitant about visiting a pantry for the first time to take that first step. In Faye’s experience, when someone arrives without all the information they may need for future visits, the team explains what to bring next time while making sure the neighbor can still receive support that day.
“If you’re thinking about coming for the first time, I say come. Come. Come,” she says. “I’ve never known them to turn anyone away.”
As the costs of groceries, transportation, and other essentials continue to stretch household budgets, Faye knows how important it is to have consistent access to nourishing food close to home. She is deeply grateful to everyone who helps make that access possible.
“It’s good to know that in a time like this, when dollars have to be stretched, there are people who take the time to remember their neighbors in need,” she says. “To the people who make this possible, thank you, thank you, thank you.”
“It’s not just a convenient place to get some food,” Faye says. “It’s a blessing to me and my family.”
Together with community partners across Westchester County, Feeding Westchester works to help ensure that every neighbor can access the food they need with dignity, care, and respect.
