May 7, 2016 – Food Bank For New York City was honored to receive the John Dewey Award for Excellence in Education from United Federation of Teachers (UFT) at their Spring Education Conference during teacher appreciation week. This award has not been presented to an individual or organization for the past three years! The excitement in the air was palpable, with over 1,600 current and former school staff members attending, showing an incredible dedication to their profession and the students and families they inspire and support.
CookShop started over 20 years ago at two schools in Harlem, now serving more than 200 schools and after-school programs citywide, reaching over 44,000 students and their families each year. Two-thirds of the population reached though Food Bank’s school-based programming live in the city’s neediest areas. Through UFT’s Community Learning Schools (CLS) Initiative, we have found a school environment that welcomes the services we provide — and enables us to meet families where they are: at their children’s schools.
In addition to CookShop, UFT’s CLS Initiative connects schools with other direct service programs of Food Bank’s — including Financial Literacy and Campus Pantry, which have provided over 1 million meals to more than 10,000 children and their families. None of this work would be possible without the day-to-day support of teachers, parent coordinators, administrators and other school staff —their love, compassion and commitment to students’ success has been key to the success of these programs.
With 1 in 5 of our city’s children surviving on food from food pantries and soup kitchens, building the skills to make nutritious food choices on a limited budget is an integral part of the work that we do. We thank the teachers and school staff who are on the front lines of fighting child and family hunger in New York City.