Tomorrow, first Tuesday after Thanksgiving or Thanksgiving DayIn the United States we celebrate #Giving Tuesday, a day in which we demonstrate our generosity and solidarity with philanthropic causes. And in my capacity as President of the Hispanic Federation, which is an organization dedicated to helping our community every day of the year for three and a half decades, I invite you to join this campaign that was born here, in New York, in 2012 thanks to Henry Timms.
The immediate way in which readers can participate in Giving Tuesday is by collaborating with another campaign, in this case from our federation and its allies, which is called Fight against hungerwhich started in 2011.
“Since that year,” explains Liliana Melgar-Hoyos, Vice President of Health Operations at the Hispanic Federation, “this program has provided our New York community with more than 1,250,000 fresh, healthy meals appropriate to our gastronomy and culture.”
“This year,” adds Yesmín Vega, Director of Economic Empowerment of the federation, “our organization has provided three million dollars in food aid so that more than 75,000 families can put food on the table. Together with our allies, we are helping to fill not only the pantries but also the hearts of many thousands of Latinas and Latinos during this holiday season.”
Last week, during an event to deliver food to families in need, we heard the opinions of the public and several directors of these allied organizations.
María Cintrón, Executive Director of The Hope Linecommented: “Thanks to our alliance with the Hispanic Federation, we were able to obtain a donation of almost 20,000 pounds of food that we began to distribute among members of our community who received benefits from the SNAP program.”
For his part, Eric Díaz, Executive Director of Urban Visionindicated that in November “the Hispanic Federation was responsible for the donation of more than 500 turkeys. But in addition to that campaign Thanksgivingor Thanksgiving Day, the federation made possible a generous donation that will be enough for about two hundred families to receive food.”
Diane, a member of our community who received a bag full of food, summed up the meaning of Fight against hunger. “It is very good that today, as society is,” he said, “there are people who are still dedicated to giving their time and help to many people who really need it.”
The Hispanic Federation will continue to distribute these foods during the month of December in various parts of New York State thanks to the collaboration of our member organizations. People who want more information about Fight against hunger You can call (866) 432-9832.
“And we will continue to do this in the future, helping our community enjoy healthy foods throughout the state,” Liliana Melgar-Hoyos concluded.
If you would like to learn more about the Hispanic Federation and our other member agencies, please see our website.
Celebrate with us the 35th anniversary of the Hispanic Federation, and until the next column!
Frankie Miranda is the president of the Hispanic Federation