Columbia County proclaims September 2025 as Hunger Action Month, cites persistent meal gap

The Columbia County Board of Supervisors on Sept. 10 formally recognized the Regional Food Bank and proclaimed September 2025 as Hunger Action Month in the county. The board read a proclamation that summarized the food bank’s reach, recent service statistics and the county’s continuing need.

The proclamation said the Regional Food Bank serves 23 counties across New York, partners with over 1,000 agencies and distributes more than 355,000 meals per month. It cited a Feeding America study showing 12.2% of adults and 15.4% of children in the food bank’s service area face food insecurity and said that, in Columbia County specifically, 12% of residents struggle with food insecurity. The proclamation added that in 2024 the regional food bank provided more than 1,500,000 pounds of food and about 1,200,000 meals to Columbia County residents but that the county still faces a meal gap of more than 1,300,000 meals this year.

Supervisor Collins, who presented the proclamation, said the county continues to have a “significant amount of need,” and called on residents to support local hunger-relief efforts. The proclamation listed programs supported by the food bank, including a summer backpack program, Food as Medicine and mobile pantries, and noted the bank’s volunteer base of roughly 24,000 people who donated about 60,000 hours of service last year (the proclamation equated that figure to about 329 full-time workers).

The board gave the proclamation under the chairman’s hand and privy seal in the Supervisors’ Chambers in Hudson. The declaration encourages residents to raise awareness, volunteer and support local hunger-relief initiatives.

The proclamation is ceremonial; no ordinance, appropriation or binding policy change was proposed during the presentation. The board did not vote on a new budget allocation during the reading; the item was recorded as a formal proclamation only.