Our Story

Our Mission

The Food Pantry at St. Mary’s Mohegan Lake is an interfaith community based not for profit service organization staffed by volunteers. Our mission is to provide supplemental food to families or individuals who live in the Mohegan Lake and greater Yorktown – Cortlandt area. We seek to provide nutritional, health and referral information to facilitate our patrons in moving beyond the need for emergency food.

The Community Food Pantry at St. Mary's Mohegan Lake

Community coming together helping families in need

The Community Food Pantry at St. Mary’s Mohegan Lake is a “grassroots” all volunteer staffed service that has been in operation almost 40 years.  People in our neighborhood and surrounding area hear about us through word of mouth or by referral through religious, school or social service organizations.  Besides providing emergency and supplemental food, we provide nutritional, health, legal and voter registration information as well as referral sources to meet other basic needs. When available on site services are offered by representatives from different area resources.  The Hudson River Health Clinic makes monthly onsite visits offering health information and blood pressure screenings.  Catholic Charities SNAP representatives make onsite visits quarterly.
We ask our guests to fill out a registration form that requires proof of residency.  No one is turned away if they are in need and we do provide residents outside our neighborhood and surrounding area with information about emergency food programs available to them. The Community Food Pantry is a self-select pantry, serving 3 meals for 3 days. Food items for that day are on display so that our guests may make choices. Frozen meats, poultry and/or fish are part of the weekly distribution. At least once a month fresh produce is available through the Feeding Westchester. The pantry also receives produce during the growing season from Hilltop Hanover Farms, a Westchester County Environmental Education Farm located in Yorktown. The pantry now has its own Community Garden on the grounds of St. Mary’s. The garden is the result of two Eagle Boy Scout projects and was initiated by a Girl Scout earning her Golden Scout Award.  The garden is maintained by volunteers and small amounts of produce harvested from the garden are distributed at the pantry as they are picked.  The Yorktown Garden of Hope donates produce during the local growing season.  Three times a year during major holidays, we provide the fixings for special meals for families and individuals. At Christmas and Easter gifts are provided for dependent children.  School supplies for dependent school age children are distributed at the beginning of each new school year to help assure a good start.  Each fall the pantry holds a winter coat distribution of donated gently used winter apparel.  Diapers are distributed to families with infants and toddlers.  Thanks to another Boy Scout’s Eagle project, we now have a Book Pantry. The Book Pantry is staffed by volunteers and open every week.  Children of the families who use the pantry may take books home to keep, read and share.  Donations of NEW books for all ages especially ones in Spanish are welcome
Our guests not only come for emergency food, but to find a friendly face, someone who knows their name and listens if only for a brief moment.  Over the years the numbers of households that we serve has increased.  We are see more households where there is at least one adult working, but they still cannot make ends meet.  We are continuing to see a rise in our Hispanic population, our elderly, the disabled and disabled veterans who are finding their incomes stretched to the limits.
Not only does The Community Food Pantry offer emergency and supplemental food assistance to our neighbors in need, the pantry offers the opportunity to fulfill community service for our youth who need it for school, church/synagogue/mosque or civic organizations requirements.  The local judicial system also refers folks to us so they can complete community service hours.
Volunteers are always welcome and come from all walks of life and all ages. The Community Food Pantry is truly an integral part of the Mohegan Lake and greater Yorktown/Cortlandt area including the Lakeland School District.
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Hours of Operation: Every Saturday Morning – Setup starts at 7:30 am, Distribution is from 9:30 to 11:00 am.  Clean-up is completed no later than 11:15. Pre-packed emergency bags are available during the week, call 914-528-3972
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