HIGHLAND FALLS, N.Y.—Federal employees and their families gathered at a senior center in the Village of Highland Falls to receive free food on Oct. 13.
The Hudson Valley Food Bank (HVFB) teamed up with local community leaders to provide food for families who are missing paychecks due to the federal government shutdown.
Highland Falls sits on the edge of the West Point U.S. Military Reserve, and many of its residents work at the academy or its grounds.
During the government shutdown, some members of the military have received paychecks, but many service men and women who aren’t active-duty have not been paid.
The HVFB brought food items such as canned goods, frozen meat, bread, fresh fruit, vegetables, milk, and even pet food for village residents to stock up on.
The idea for the distribution came from Highland Falls Trustee Jennifer Gargiulo, who saw federal employees on Facebook looking for ways to feed their families. She brought together the West Point Spouses Club and the HVFB to provide relief as quickly as possible.
“There are a lot of our neighbors and friends who really are struggling with how to feed their families,” Gargiulo told The Epoch Times.
“You often don’t think about our enlisted men, our federal civilian employees, and even our first responders needing service. ... Serving people that serve us, 365 days a year, seven days a week, 24 hours a day, it’s nice to be able to give back.”
The HVFB and town of Highland Falls stated they will continue to support unpaid federal employees for as long as the shutdown lasts. They estimated about 50 families came to the food bank.
The HVFB, which serves six counties, is housed in a 50,000-square-foot warehouse in Montgomery. Its parent organization, the Regional Food Bank of Northeastern New York, helps feed more than 350,000 people a month in 23 New York counties.
HVFB told The Epoch Times that it is glad to help families in need. “Our mission at the regional food bank Hudson Valley is to ensure that no one in the Hudson Valley goes hungry,” it wrote in a statement.
The HVFB receives food from donations, purchases, or the USDA. The organization said that the support from the USDA had been halved this year due to budget cuts, going from 400 truckloads of food in 2024 to 200 in 2025.
This has brought some strain on the food bank. “We continue to have to do more with less,” it stated.
