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While we all grapple with the impacts of a global pandemic, COVID-19 has increased food insecurity for even more of our most vulnerable communities.

We're so proud of many of our 1 Hotel Central Park team members who've volunteered at Holy Apostles Soup Kitchen (HASK), New York City's largest emergency food program, throughout this crisis and long before. These team members come from all departments, front of house& and back of house, joined by hotel leadership. Our director of food and beverage has been working diligently to get personal protective equipment and other needed supplies to HASK, including 3,000 masks. Our Executive Chef of Jams, Ginger Pierce, is a founding culinary partner for the year-round Farm to Tray campaign, to bring attention and resources to the issues of hunger, sustainability, and food waste, while also strengthening HASK's ability to improve New Yorkers’ lives through meal outreach and social service programs.

Since the Governor of New York implemented the "New York State on PAUSE" order, HASK launched Operation HopeFULL, serving over 60,000 meals through their grab-and-go hot meal and pantry program. In just one day this month, they distributed 3,576 meals through their panty program, a 65% increase from the previous month. In 2019, the pantry program provided that many meals in a whole month. In response, they're adding two more days of pantry distribution to their schedule. By September, HASK will serve its ten-millionth meal.

In addition to feeding those in need, HASK's work has great benefits for our environment. By using 338,230 pounds of rescued food in 2019, they prevented 642,637 pounds of carbon dioxide equivalent from being produced. In addition to recycling, HASK was composting 3,600 pounds of organic waste each week, diverting 94 tons of organic waste from landfills to compostable and renewable energy annually (this has been temporarily paused due to the city suspending compost pick-up). And their raised-bed vegetable garden is yielding three harvests of leafy greens each year, providing fresh produce for the Backpack Pantry Program, while their rooftop beehives have been yielding 50 pounds of honey annually since 2017.

We hope you'll join us in supporting the remarkable work that HASK is doing. If you have the means to donate, every amount helps. You can also help by simply spreading the word. Follow HASK on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn and share with #OperationHopeFULL.