New LI Cares Effort Gives Nutrition Tips To Food-Insecure Communities

HAUPPAUGE, NY — Long Island Cares, an organization dedicated to fighting food insecurity, is teaming up with the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT)/Wegmans School of Health and Nutrition to launch an initiative called "About Eating NY."

The goal of the program is to learn the needs and wants of those battling food insecurity and then provide solutions around food budgeting, healthy meal planning, and enjoying mealtime, said Samantha Abella, the nutrition resource manager at Long Island Cares.

Six online modules and a survey will help Rochester fine-tune its nutrition education program. Anyone who takes it will be entered to win a $60 Amazon gift card. Long Island is the first of 10 regions in the state set to participate in the program.

If you would like to take the "About Eating" modules and survey, click here. The survey is available to those who complete the six modules.

"By empowering individuals with these tools, they can make more informed choices about the foods they eat," Abella said.

One of Long Island Cares' primary missions is to teach the island's food-insecure population about nutritious foods and eating well, according to Peter Crescenti, a spokesperson for the organization. There is a lot to learn about eating proper foods, which leads to better health.

"When we were approached by the Rochester Institute of Technology about helping them make their nutrition education program more robust, we were anxious to help," Crescenti said. "We’re both fighting food insecurity and poor health with the same tools.”

Dr. Barbara Lohse of RIT, head of the program and director of the Wegmans School of Health and Nutrition, said the school's interests lined up with Long Island Cares.

"We are interested in knowing how this online nutrition education program is useful to the community served by LI Cares and what other materials and information we can develop that would help people make informed choices for their health," Lohse said.

The survey is targeting all of New York state, from Buffalo to Montauk, and Plattsburgh to Elmira. Lohse welcomes Long Island Cares to share the online program with those who are out of state, too.

The survey will be open for at least a year, but the incentive drawing will no longer be offered after Dec. 31, Lohse said.

Patch has partnered with Feeding America since 2020 to help raise awareness of hunger in our local communities, a persistent national problem exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Feeding America, which supports 200 food banks across the country, estimates that 1 in 8 people face hunger. This is a Patch social good project; Feeding America receives 100 percent of donations. Find out how you can donate in your community or find a food pantry near you.