Long Islanders Donate 25,000 Meals to PSEG Long Island’s Power to Feed Long Island Initiative - Helping Local Families Struggling with Food Insecurity

(UNIONDALE, N.Y. – Sept. 30, 2024) PSEG Long Island thanks generous Long Islanders for helping make its fourth annual PSEG Long Island’s Power to Feed Long Island initiative another success. In the seven collection events that took place from Memorial Day through the end of September, the equivalent of 25,000 meals was collected for Island Harvest Food Bank and distributed to members of the community through local food pantries and soup kitchens. In the past four years, this initiative has collected and distributed the equivalent of nearly 130,000 meals to people on Long Island struggling with food insecurity.

“We are grateful to the people of Long Island for their kindness and compassion in supporting PSEG Long Island’s Power to Feed Long Island food collection initiative this year. In each community we visited, we met wonderful people with a genuine desire to help their neighbors in need. Our employees stepped up once again by donating more than 650 pounds of food, which equates to more than 550 meals, and volunteering at the collection events throughout the summer. This is one of the ways PSEG Long Island supports our community, along with providing safe and reliable power.” 

-  David Lyons, Interim President and COO, PSEG Long Island

Breaking down the results, 14,736 pounds of food was collected at the seven sites, along with $6,350 collected online and in cash donations and gift cards. The breakdown in each area is as follows:

“PSEG Long Island’s continued support of Island Harvest’s efforts in addressing the needs of people who are food insecure once again proves that partnerships between companies and nonprofits are indeed making a difference in the lives of our neighbors faced with uncertainty,” said Randi Shubin Dresner, president and CEO, Island Harvest. “We are grateful to the PSEG Long Island employees who worked so hard to make Power to Feed Long Island a success, and we extend our thanks to our longtime partner Stop & Shop for hosting the food drives, and of course, special thanks to the numerous Long Islanders for their generosity too.”

“Stop & Shop is proud to support Island Harvest in their mission to combat food insecurity across Long Island,” said Daniel Wolk, external communications manager, Stop & Shop. “PSEG Long Island’s Power to Feed food drives held at Stop & Shop locations across Nassau and Suffolk were a great success and will help our neighbors in need. We want to thank our caring customers for their support and donations to this important initiative, as we work together to fight hunger and help our local community members.”

Power to Feed Long Island was created by PSEG Long Island in 2021 to raise awareness about the issue of food insecurity on Long Island and to provide the public with venues where they live and work to donate food and personal care items to their neighbors. Food collection events were held at seven Stop & Shop supermarkets this year ─ in Carle Place, East Northport, Levittown, Massapequa, Oceanside, South Setauket and West Babylon ─ from Memorial Day weekend through the end of September.

PSEG Long Island created this event during the pandemic and continued to hold events each summer because the need continues to be great. Summer is a difficult time of year for food banks, pantries and programs because vacations cause a decrease in donations and collection drives are not as prevalent. It is also a time when children out of school are not receiving daily free or reduced-cost breakfast and lunch, which puts a heavier burden on their families.

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PSEG Long Island
PSEG Long Island operates the Long Island Power Authority’s transmission and distribution system under a long-term contract.  PSEG Long Island is a subsidiary of Public Service Enterprise Group Inc. (PSEG) (NYSE:PEG), a publicly traded diversified energy company.