February 2026

Reminders/Announcements


New Dietary Guidelines!

Every five years the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) issues a new edition of its Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Visit realfood.gov to learn more!


Go Digital with Service Insights Intake!

Are you looking to minimize paperwork and streamline your intake process? Visit our Service Insights page to learn more about online intake or join our onboarding waitlist!


Events, Celebrations, Observances:

  • Black History Month: February 1-28
  • American Heart Month: February 1-28
  • National Nutrition Month: March 1-31
  • Syracuse St. Patrick’s Day Parade: March 14 | Interested in marching with the Food Bank? Contact Lynn Hy!

People: The Powerful, Driving Force Behind Food Security

When it comes to ending hunger in our region, people are the engine that keep our food security train moving. In your communities, there are neighbors facing hunger. And in a world where you could be doing anything else, you are doing something about it.


Your efforts help create a more food-secure world, where individuals, children, and families do not have to worry where their next meal is coming from, or worse, go hungry. It’s not just the dollars, donations, or data that bring solutions, it’s you. It’s people seeing needs and choosing to meet them, giving their time to care for others, and choosing to serve one another with dignity.

Expanding Access

Sue Collins & Hamilton Food Cupboard

Meet Deb & Dean

Brewerton Community Food Pantry

Suzanne (Sue) Collins shares about the power of community, her plans to grow a pollinator field and food forest, and how her team is expanding vital access through education and exposure to new foods.


"Whatever we can do to be community minded, we're willing to do it, as long as it involves food and taking care of people!"

Deb Lombard, Dean Burdick, and the team at Brewerton Community Food Pantry place a special emphasis on getting to know the neighbors they serve.


"I think one of the key things that we keep in mind every time we open our doors is relationship building. We're not just here to throw food in people's cars and send them on their way."

15 Hours, 261,000 Meals

The Food Bank recently hosted its 13th annual Help Fight Hunger Telethon in our warehouse, presented by CXtec in partnership with CNY Central and Cumulus Media. This event brings together community members, staff, volunteers, donors, and more to combine our impact. This year, we broke our record; more than $87,000 was raised to support the Food Bank and our partner network! 

Share your story with us for a chance to be featured on The Side Dish!

Neighbor Engagement & Experience

Interactive Resource: "SPENT"

Spent is an interactive game created by McKinney Ventures, LLC. for Urban Ministries of Durham that invites players into an immersive online experience surviving poverty and the threat of homelessness. In this game, players are challenged to manage their money, raise a child, and make it through the month getting paid minimum wage after a stretch of unemployment.

Capacity-Building Resource

Free Course: Data for Social Impact (DSI)

Are you interested in learning how to use your service data for greater impact? This FREE, online course from Washington University can help agencies improve their impact by teaching collaborative, equitable, community-centered data practices.

Resource provided by Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis.

Contact Information

Sydney Quilty-Koval, Community Engagement Coordinator | (315) 437-1899 ext. 289

Thank you for reading The Side Dish! We’ll be back with more of ‘the good stuff’ soon!

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