Reimagining the Future of Hunger Relief

Feeding Westchester is ready to reimagine the future of hunger relief.  

After almost three years of pandemic response, the New York state-based organization has doubled the scale of its mission: nourishing neighbors by providing access to food and building a better tomorrow. 

Last year, Feeding Westchester distributed 19 million pounds of food to feeding programs in Westchester County – including pantries, community centers, schools, senior residences, health clinics and many more partners. 

“There is no looking back to pre-COVID times. Our strategic plan does not leave room for status quo,” says CEO Karen Erren. "We have an opportunity to play a different kind of role in the community going forward - one of convening, advising, and unlocking the potential of our partners.” 

Before Feeding Westchester set out to enhance the hunger relief system, it sought to understand it. For that work, it commissioned a new project and enlisted the help of BCG – experts in bringing insights, not just information alone, to society’s most challenging problems.  

The project answered three fundamental questions: 

• What and where is the need for food assistance in Westchester? 
• What and where is the local food supply? 
• What is the capacity of the existing partner network to meet the need? And how can we improve it? 

A key output of the project was a tool that would ingest large amounts of data from numerous sources (demographics, public health, transit, retail outlets, etc.) and visually show where everything is in relation to each other.  

The tool brought together data never seen side-by-side to inform decisions. But data analysis was not enough. To truly understand the need in Westchester, the team needed to go out into the community and speak with people.  

André Thompson, Feeding Westchester’s VP of Impact Programming, and the primary architect of the project, shares “it was so important that we hear directly from people with lived experience. We are here to serve our neighbors, not serve ourselves and do only what we think is right.” 

The project team visited different parts of the county and interviewed pantry guests, listening to their life stories, asking about their experience at food programs, and requesting feedback. The team also volunteered at a food distribution center, spoke with pantry directors, and surveyed 120 partner organizations to understand peoples’ needs. 

“It was a powerful combination of analytics and empathy. Not every project brings forward such actionable and local impact,” said Ben Thornton, BCG X Geoanalytics Lead Analyst on the project. 

What we learned through our conversations was that:

1. People face structural disadvantages simply because of who they are or where they live
2. Everyone wants, and deserves, to be treated with respect and dignity.  

With these insights, and the tools and plans developed through this project, Feeding Westchester can charge forward, empowered, to ensure there is equitable access to food in the community. 

Shishir Agarwal, Managing Director & Senior Partner says, “what I admire about Karen, André, and the whole Feeding Westchester team - is that they do so much with so little. They never let constraints hold back their aspirations. Many Fortune 500 companies can learn from that mentality!” 

BCG is incredibly proud to support Feeding Westchester, and to be a trusted partner with them in the fight against hunger.  

Thanks to Second Harvest of Silicon Valley, Community Food Bank of New Jersey, Rhode Island Community Food Bank, SAPNA NY, PolicyMap, Inc., Houston Food Bank, Nourishing Hope, Target, Wegmans Food Markets, Trader Joe's, ShopRite, and all Feeding Westchester feeding partners who contributed valuable input to this project.  

Thanks also to our BCG project advisors: 

• Vicki Escarra, Senior Advisor. Vicki is known for her tenure as CMO of Delta Air Lines, CEO of Feeding America, and Global CEO of Opportunity International. 
• Farah Ahmed, Partner. Farah is a leader in BCG’s Marketing, Sales, and Pricing practice. She is also an expert in Social Impact and advises several food banks across the US.