Broome County CHOW Logged 520,000 Requests for Food in 2025

Anyone who drives past the Weis Markets on Upper Front Street today and this weekend will see a camper parked out front because many of our neighbors are running short on food. Food-A-Bago is underway in Binghamton, and there is still time to take part.

The Food-A-Bago Food Drive runs through the morning of Monday, November 9, outside Weis Markets at 1290 Upper Front Street. Everything collected goes to CHOW, the Community Hunger Outreach Warehouse, which supplies food to local pantries and meal sites.

Broome County Food Requests Reached 520,000 in 2025

Hunger does not wait for the holidays. The Food Bank of the Southern Tier’s 2025 Broome County impact report counts 520,000 food requests in the county last year, including 160,000 for children. The food bank distributed 6.9 million pounds of food in Broome County in 2025, and 3.8 million of those pounds came through CHOW.

How the CHOW Food Pantry Network in Binghamton Works

CHOW is a program of the Broome County Council of Churches. The council describes it as a network of food pantries in Broome County that makes emergency food available to people who need short-term help. Its warehouse receives, stores, and sorts donated and purchased food, then sends it out to the local pantries and meal sites that families visit.

That is why even a small donation matters. Every can on the camper’s shelf is one less thing a pantry has to go without.

Food-A-Bago Donations Accepted Through Monday Morning, November 9

The drive accepts pantry staples such as canned vegetables, soup, pasta, peanut butter, cereal, canned fruit, rice, boxed meals, and shelf-stable milk. If shopping isn’t possible this week, you can donate money instead. Make checks payable to Music for the Mission.

Canva

Broome County Food Assistance: Ways to Help After the Drive Ends

If you can’t make it to Upper Front Street before Monday morning, the Broome County food assistance page lists other ways to help. You can drop off nonperishable food at the CHOW Warehouse at 3 Otseningo Street in Binghamton, and the page links to volunteer sign-ups with CHOW, the Food Bank of the Southern Tier, and United Way of Broome County.

Get our free mobile app

Broome County Food Pantry Referral: Call CHOW or Dial 2-1-1

If you or someone you know needs food, call the CHOW hotline at 607-723-8960. Broome County also says to dial 2-1-1 for information about food pantries, community meals, and other local support.