Agency-wide, Employee-Driven Food Drive Initiative to Provide 2,139 Meals to Families in Need Over the Holidays
MTA Partners with City Harvest, Feeding Westchester, Food Bank of the Hudson Valley, The Food Bank of Lower Fairfield County and Island Harvest
See Photos from the Deliveries
Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) employees, in coordination with officers from the MTA Police Department, delivered 2,567 pounds in donations from its employee-driven food drive campaign which included “Stuff a Bus” to help provide food for those in need during the holiday season. The food drive included donations from New York City Transit subways and buses, Staten Island Railway, Long Island Rail Road, Metro-North Railroad, MTA Bridges and Tunnels and MTA Police.
The Authority partnered with five local food banks: City Harvest, Feeding Westchester, Food Bank of the Hudson Valley, The Food Bank of Lower Fairfield County and Island Harvest. Donations were collected at more than 40 employee facilities throughout the MTA’s agencies.
NYC Transit’s bus #1081 picked up donations from the Jackie Gleason Depot and drove them to City Harvest's warehouse in Sunset Park. LIRR and Metro-North donations were picked up by MTA Police officers and delivered to the food banks in those territories.
At a time when visits to New York City food pantries and soup kitchens are up 69% in 2022 compared to 2019, and up 14% since January 2022, 2,139 meals will be served to families during the holidays thanks to the generosity of MTA employees.
MTA employees also donated thousands of toys to the MTA Police Explorer’s annual Sergeant Susan and Harry Atkinson Memorial Toy Drive. Susan Atkinson was an LIRR Police Sergeant who started the toy drive in 1991. Atkinson and her husband Harry spent countless hours collecting toys for underprivileged children in the New York metropolitan area. Susan passed away in 1999, and now the MTA Law Enforcement Explorers continue the tradition in her honor.