Broome County Deserves Better: No One Should Go to Bed Hungry

Here’s a hard truth we can’t ignore: we live in one of the wealthiest nations in the world, and yet more than half of Americans will experience poverty before they turn 65. That number stops you in your tracks, doesn’t it? It should. Because poverty isn’t some distant issue, it’s sitting right here in our backyard. It’s our neighbors. Our coworkers. The kids our children sit next to in class.

Hunger Doesn’t Always Look Like Starvation

In Broome County alone, more than 24,000 people are food insecure. That doesn’t always mean empty cupboards, sometimes it means stretching meals, skipping fresh foods, or pretending you’re not hungry so your kids can eat instead. It means quietly struggling while trying to appear “fine.”

And for a quarter of those people, public assistance programs like SNAP aren’t even an option. They make just enough to be denied help and not nearly enough to be stable.

READ MORE: 11 Non-Food Items CHOW Wishes It Had In Stock

When Access Is Limited, Choice Disappears

Almost half of Broome County residents, 43.8 percent, have low access to healthy food. Not because they don’t care about nutrition, but because getting to affordable, quality food is a challenge in itself. Fewer grocery stores, limited transportation, and higher prices make fresh produce feel like a luxury instead of a basic necessity.

CHOW Is on the Front Lines of Fighting Hunger

Thankfully, there’s a local organization stepping up in a massive way. CHOW, short for the Community Hunger Outreach Warehouse, is a grassroots food recovery and distribution effort feeding Broome County residents completely free of charge. In 2024 alone, CHOW distributed more than 3.8 million pounds of food, turning it into over 3.1 million meals. That’s an incredible effort, but the demand is still rising, and the shelves need to stay full.

This November, You Can Help Stock the Shelves

That’s where the Food-a-Bago Food Drive comes in. From Monday, November 3 through Monday, November 10, we’ll be set up outside the Weis Market on Upper Front Street in Binghamton, collecting non-perishable food donations to help refill CHOW’s warehouse.

Donations will be accepted from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekdays, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. over the weekend, and from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. on the final morning. If your schedule is tight, don’t worry, blue bins will be placed outside the Food-a-Bago camper so you can drop donations whenever it’s convenient.

Can’t Shop? You Can Still Make a Huge Impact

If you’d rather give financially, CHOW can stretch every dollar further than you’d ever expect. Through their partnerships and bulk purchasing power, one dollar equals five complete meals. If you choose to give by check, just make it payable to Music for the Mission drop it off at the Food a Bago Food Drive and they’ll make sure it goes directly into the hands (and bellies) that need it most.

Hunger Is Fixable, If We All Show Up

This issue isn’t unsolvable. People in Broome County shouldn’t be choosing between gas and groceries. Kids shouldn’t be going to bed hungry. Seniors shouldn’t be cutting their food in half to make it last longer. We have more than enough to go around, we just need to share it.

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So I’m asking you, truly and sincerely: will you help? Will you drive over, toss a few cans into the camper, or send a few dollars to stretch into meals? Because one small act from you could mean one full belly, or one sigh of relief, for someone else. Together, let’s make sure no one in Broome County is left behind this winter.