When Kathleen Purdy discovered that her grandmother was helping her elderly neighbors make ends meet by sharing her own food and supplies, she knew that she had to do something. After arranging a system to get food delivered to all of her grandmother’s neighbors, Purdy realized that the issue was prevalent throughout Westchester County, and so Hillside Food Outreach began.

The food pantry is located in Pleasantville, which has a low poverty rate of around 2%. However, much of the food pantry’s work takes place elsewhere in Westchester County. Still, volunteers and organizations in Pleasantville provide a lot of support for Hillside. In fact, the Pleasantville Community Garden donates part of what it grows.

“Not only do we donate what we grow in our garden, we collect fresh produce at the Farmers’ Market that is then given to Hillside,” said David Juros, one of the executive directors of the Pleasantville Community Garden.

Hillside is different from many other food pantries around the Westchester area. Not only is it the only food pantry to deliver to people’s homes, it also helps those with medical needs.

“We noticed that food banks have unhealthy food, and people with medical conditions such as diabetes have to have a healthy diet,” said Purdy. “The produce that we bring to people is healthy and provides all of the nutrients that they need with their medical conditions.”

Purdy said Hillside is always in need of volunteers. They work in teams of two. Volunteers are trained to pay attention to the health and nutritional needs of their clients, each team delivers food to six houses.