L.I.G.H.T. FOR CHARITY™ (‘Long Island Giving Help Together For Charity’) is my column where I shine a light on a different Long Island-based charity each month. For this column, I focus on Long Island Cares, which is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to serving hungry and food-insecure populations throughout Long Island.
Long Island Cares was founded in 1980 by the late singer-songwriter Harry Chapin with a budget of just $75,000. As more people on Long Island experienced food insecurity, it became clear that more work was needed on a broader scale to address the needs of the hungry.
Long Island Cares provides food pantries and soup kitchens for those in need, distributing over 14 million pounds of food (equivalent to 11.5 million meals) to the over 230,000 people facing hunger on Long Island each year. Dealing with hunger is only one of several problems facing those battling food insecurity. Long Island Cares also offers a wide variety of other important services such as job training, job placement, outreach to the homeless, and veterans’ service programs.
Long Island Cares also operates a specialized youth program. Through this program, Long Island Cares created a unique mobile food truck program, which travels throughout Nassau and Suffolk Counties, delivering over 65,000 food-insecure Long Island kids and their families healthy breakfast options. The service has also been extended to cater to veterans, seniors and Long Island’s homeless population to ensure these vulnerable populations also have access to nutritious meals.
Long Island Cares also operates Baxter’s Pet Panty to ensure all members of the family – including pets – have enough to eat. Baxter’s Pet Panty operates by appointment only, Monday-Friday at 161 North Wellwood Avenue in Lindenhurst. Interested individuals can make an appointment by calling (631) 991-8106.
Recognizing that ending hunger is not something that food banks can do on their own, Long Island Cares created the Chapin Center for Public Policy, which advocates for long-term public policy solutions at the local, state and federal levels. The Chapin Center facilitates advocacy through letters, petitions, providing legislative testimony and by serving on public policy committees. Additionally, the Chapin Center provides education through local newspapers, social media platform updates, and advocacy training sessions.
If you’d like to help Long Island Cares, you can do so by donating funds, hosting a food drive, or attending a fundraising event. For more information, please visit Long Island Cares’s website at https://www.licares.org/.
Kayla Donnenfeld
