Greene County Food Security Coalition performs food feats

November 14, 2025

Michael Ryan

​Mountain Eagle

Greene County Food Security Coalition is a network of food pantries, feeding agencies, local food producers, volunteers and community members such as (left to right) Charlotte Carter, Jonathan Gross, Isabella Kemp and Barbara Swanson.

Smiling and saying “cheese” for the camera is one thing, but finding a way to disseminate 24,000 pounds of coagulated casein in a hurry was quite another for the Greene County Food Security Coalition.

“It was astonishing,” says Jonathan Gross, a founding member of the coalition, a network of food pantries, feeding agencies, local food producers, devoted volunteers and community members.

They are, collectively, “dedicated to ensuring that every member of our community has access to healthy, nutritious food.”

“Two-and-a-half years ago, Greene County food pantries were struggling with unprecedented increases in both community need and costs of food,” Gross said in a recent interview.

“Many of the pantries were working independently. In response to funding cuts and increased demand, a group of us recognized the need to share resources, improve communication and work cooperatively,” Gross said.

“We were approached by a woman who did this internationally. We set up a platform to talk to each other and all of a sudden it was working. That was the original model and we’re continuing to grow,” Gross added, noting the coalition was officially formed in 2023.

It currently includes multiple Greene County member pantries plus Feed HV, a nonprofit regional food rescue and harvesting network dedicated to meeting the needs of neighbors while mitigating the impacts of food waste.

Their initial focus was on developing partnerships with local farmers, producers and agribusinesses.

Greene County Food Security Coalition has also established a Field to Pantry program, encouraging hunters to donate deer for processing by Berkshire View Farm in Hannacroix. That effort doubled the amount of venison distributed to food pantries.

In 2024, Feed HV provided funding to purchase vegetables from Black Horse Farms in Athens.

This year, Feed HV funding will be used for group purchases of milk, meat and vegetables.

And getting back to dairy, the coalition had to―and did―rise to the occasion when a fortuitous call came in from a local creamery.

“Hudson Creamery told us they had overproduced some goat cheese,” Gross said. “It’s a high source of protein so we were interested.”

“We asked, ‘how much you got?’ They told us twelve tons. I swear to you, twelve tons,” Gross says, still incredulous at the preponderance.

“That’s a whole lot of cheese but we love the challenge and fortunately, we’re capable of mobilizing very quickly,” Gross said.

“The cheese was individually wrapped, if you can believe it. We gathered cars and pickup trucks and some local pantries had box trucks,” he added.

“We placed eight tons in a week-and-a-half, and then we found the Platte Clove Community in Hunter where we were able to store a couple of tons. Lime Kiln Farm [in West Coxsackie] took a ton or so and the Hensonville Fire Department stored some, allowing us more time,” Gross said.

“We still had some left over so we decided to give it to ambulance workers, fire departments and even the county sheriff’s office. It was absolutely amazing. We even went to surrounding counties,” Gross said. “It became a love fest of sharing.”

According to the Greene County Food Security Coalition, “many of us expect to see further increases in food insecurity. Our networking and collaborative approach to sharing resources and developing partnerships with local farmers and food producers seems particularly timely as a strategy to address food insecurity.”

“We are asking for support from our communities and elected officials to help build our network,” the coalition states.

For more information, contact Gross at jonathangross25@gmail.com or 914-523-3766.