Queens Farm Launches Annual Food Drive With Queens College

FLORAL PARK, QUEENS — The Queens Farm has launched its annual food drive with Queens College to support CUNY students and their families.

The food drive, which started accepting donations Monday, comes as the effects of the coronavirus pandemic continue to increase demand at food pantries across New York City.

A survey of CUNY students this year found that they have been cutting or skipping meals at higher rates than in years past, citing lack of money, and that CUNY students expressed three times the level of worry about running out of food than they did in 2018, according to a news release.

About 70 percent of students said their household income went down this year, and more than half reported a decrease in their own income due to the coronavirus, the survey found.

“No one should go hungry,” said Jennifer Walden Weprin, executive director of the Queens County Farm Museum. “CUNY students represent the future of New York City. Together, Queens Farm and Queens College can feed tummies and feed minds."

The food drive runs through Dec. 31 in partnership with Queens College's Knights Table Food Pantry, which serves students throughout the CUNY network.

"The services of the pantry — which provides food access for all CUNY students in need, free of stigma — are even more vital now as we continue to adapt to Covid-19-imposed challenges," Queens College President Frank Wu said in a statement. "Our students benefit from both the tangible results of our partnership with the Queens Farm and the cooperative model that it provides — an approach that is needed now more than ever.”

New Yorkers can drop off their donations of packaged, shelf-stable, healthy food items at the Queens Farm store.

Suggestions include canned fish and lean meats, nut butters, soups and stews, whole grain bread, cereal and crackers, dried rice, noodles and pasta, oatmeal, canned or dried beans, sauces and gravy, packaged fruit and vegetables and shelf-stable milk. Expired food will not be accepted.