CHOW

06/01/2026

Huge THANK YOU to Nathan's Butterflies and Vestal Little League for hosting a food drive for CHOW again this year!

We are so grateful for all your hard work, and to everyone who donated. CHOW is lucky to have you all on our team in the fight to STOP hunger in our community!

It’s Cold 🥶and a little rain with strong winds but we are here !
Nathan’s Butterflies and Vestal League are partners to help CHOW feed the hungry in our community !

06/01/2026

🏳️‍🌈 Happy Pride Month from your friends at CHOW! 🏳️‍⚧️

05/30/2026

🚨"growing share of U.S. households facing hunger"

We are certainly noticing the effects high food & fuel prices, combined with cuts to benefits, are having here in Broome County.

In the last week alone we've seen a big jump in the number of people seeking emergency food assistance from the CHOW Hotline. And with new SNAP eligibility requirements coming into effect next month, local pantries are only going to get busier.

If you have the means, we could certainly use your help making sure CHOW pantries will have the food they need to feed our neighbors in need this summer.

❤️ Donate today to help keep the CHOW warehouse stocked: https://broomecouncil.net/

No amount is too small to give! Every $1 donated = 5 Meals worth of food for our community. Thanks for your help in the fight to STOP hunger!

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/05/27/new-york-fed-food-insecurity-worsens-amid-k-shaped-economic-divide.html?__source=sharebar%7Clinkedin

The rising threat of food insecurity is partly why Americans feel worse off than ever before, according to research by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

05/29/2026

Another great group from iA Pharmacy Automation back in the warehouse helping out today!

Thank you for all your hard work getting these healthy proteins out of the warehouse, and into the hands of our neighbors in need. CHOW is lucky to have you all on our team in the fight to STOP hunger in our community!

05/28/2026

“I think that the community’s reaction to unhoused people is, What is wrong with you? When the reaction should be, what happened to you?” Frew said.

Great reporting from WBNG 12 News on Broome County's growing housing crisis.

"Numbers show the problem accelerating. A regional point-in-time count tracked 317 people experiencing homelessness in 2020, jumping to more than 1,000 by 2025 across the Southern Tier."

Grateful for the efforts of so many individuals & organizations in our community who are working hard to provide much needed support and care to our neighbors living on the streets and in shelters. ❤️

Homelessness in Broome County is accelerating and advocates report more people living outside, shelters at capacity, and a system struggling to keep up. https://www.wbng.com/2026/05/28/broome-county-faces-rising-homelessness-crisis/

05/28/2026

The The United Presbyterian Church of Binghamton UP Comfort Center overnight emergency shelter will be extending their days & hours of operation starting July 1st!

This safe, clean and caring overnight shelter is a desperately needed service right now, and they could really use all of our help to meet the growing needs of our community!

Click here to volunteer: www.upcbgm.org/volunteer

Huge thank you to The United Presbyterian Church of Binghamton, Christ Episcopal Church, Binghamton and to everyone in our community working to serve the most vulnerable among us!

🚨🚨🚨 CALLING ALL OF BINGHAMTON 🚨🚨🚨
Beginning July 1, our friends at The United Presbyterian Church of Binghamton will be running the UPC Overnight Center.

Under their new leadership, the Overnight Center will now be seven days a week (not just Sunday thru Thursday!) and have extended hours from 5:00 p.m. to 9:00 a.m. This is a story of meeting peoples' needs, and not just running a program.

With this shift and expansion of services, we need help to make it happen. From volunteering your time, to helping with laundry, to prepping with food. If you're passionate about caring our neighbors, then visit www.upcbgm.org/volunteer to share your information. They'll be in touch as the start date gets closer.

05/28/2026

Huge thank you to the amazing team from iA Pharmacy Automation who came out to volunteer in the warehouse this morning (it was so busy today we did not get a picture of them in action)!

We are incredibly grateful for all their help boxing these donations for our agency partners. The faster this food is boxed, weighed and entered into our inventory, the faster local pantries can get it into the hands of our neighbors in need!

CHOW absolutely could not operate without the efforts of local volunteers, and without the support of our partners in the community. We are lucky to have iA Pharmacy Automation on our team in the fight to STOP hunger!

05/28/2026

Did you know you can receive fresh, local produce every week all summer through the VINES:Volunteers Improving Neighborhood Environments Farm Share!?

Farm Share is a weekly box of fresh, seasonal produce from local farms. Available June through October, each share brings the best of the season directly to your neighborhood.

🍎 25–50% income-based discounts
🥕 75% off for SNAP/EBT users
🌽 Multiple pickup locations across Broome County
🥦 Home delivery for eligible households

The 2026 season begins June 10. Sign up TODAY!

Sign up & learn more: https://vinesgardens.org/programs/farmshare/

05/28/2026

"In February 2026, 10% of households surveyed said they didn’t have enough food, an increase from 4% in June 2020, according to the data released Wednesday. Shares of people receiving food donations increased (to 15.8% from 10.6%) as well as SNAP (17.9% versus 10.6%), and more than one-third of respondents used their savings to cover expenses (36.8% versus 21.8%)."

More & more local families are struggling to afford the basics right now, literally skipping meals to keep a roof over their heads. Unfortunately with prices continuing to rise, this problem is not going anywhere.

The CHOW network of pantries & meal sites is working hard to ease this burden on our neighbors. While at the same time we're struggling to source food for the CHOW warehouse in the face of high food & fuel costs, coupled with decreased funding & donations.

We could really use your help to make sure local pantries have the food they need to feed our neighbors in need!

❤️ Donate today to help keep the CHOW warehouse stocked: https://broomecouncil.net/

No amount is too small to give! Every $1 donated = 5 Meals worth of food for our community. Thanks for your help in the fight to STOP hunger!

https://edition.cnn.com/2026/05/27/economy/us-food-insecurity-economic-sentiment/

There’s been a “remarkable” increase over the past few years in Americans struggling to put food on the table, and that’s likely contributing to record-low consumer sentiment readings, new Federal Reserve Bank of New York research showed Wednesday.