Utica National Group Foundation awards $250K to food pantries and soup kitchens

UTICA, N.Y. — The Utica National Group Foundation announced it has awarded $250,000 to nearly three dozen food pantries and soup kitchens throughout Herkimer and Oneida counties.

The Utica National Group Foundation is the philanthropic arm of the Utica National Insurance Group.

The organization partnered with the Community Foundation of Herkimer & Oneida Counties to identify the need and to distribute the individual grants through its donor-advised fund.

This spring, the Utica National Group Foundation donated more than $75,000 through its partnership with the Community Foundation to address food-insecurity issues resulting from impacts of the pandemic. With food-insecurity concerns projected to worsen over the summer, the additional $250,000 grant will support organizations providing nourishment to families in need, the foundation says.

The funds awarded will be used to provide individual meals from local restaurants to soup kitchens and will restock food pantries’ shelves with essentials.

The grants recipients include:

• Angels Among Us Food Pantry
• Bread of Life Community Center
• Camden Area Food Pantry
• Church of the Holy Family
• Country Pantry
• Dolgeville Area Food Pantry
• Feed Our Veterans
• Foothills Rural Community Ministry
• Frankfort-Ilion Food Pantry
• Helping Hands Food Pantry
• Hope House
• Johnson Park Center
• Kuyahoora Valley Food Pantry
• Mohawk Valley Church Food Pantry
• Mother Marianne’s West Side Soup Kitchen
• Rescue Mission of Utica
• Rome Catholic Charities Emergency Assistance Food Pantry
• Rome Rescue Mission
• Salvation Army of Herkimer
• Salvation Army Utica Citadel Corps
• Seeds of Hope Food Pantry
• St. Bartholomew’s Food Pantry
• St. John’s Outreach Food Pantry
• St. Joseph’s Church Pantry
• St. Margaret’s Food Pantry
• St. Patrick’s & St. Mary’s Food Pantry
• The Salvation Army of Rome
• Thea Bowman House Food Pantry
• Town of Verona Food Pantry
• Utica Food Pantry
• Van Hornesville Area Food Pantry
• Waterville Food Pantry
• West Winfield Food Pantry
• Westminster Moriah Olivet Pantry

 Visual credit: Utica National Insurance Group Facebook page