Cannabis has long been about forging a community that provides mutual support to one another, especially during the harshest years of Prohibition and the War on Drugs. In the spirit of celebrating and uplifting the community, we’re giving back to a New York City organization that’s helping support food insecure neighbors by providing access to free groceries.
We’re making a donation of $250 and, through December 15th, 2024, we’ll be matching donations up to $250 raised to The Astoria Food Pantry in Queens. The Astoria Food Pantry provides free grocery kits that include rice, vegetables, fruits, and bread, reducing food insecurity in the community and building networks of support among neighbors.
Get to know The Astoria Food Pantry
The Astoria Food Pantry began in March 2020 in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was founded by a group of grassroots volunteers who came together with a mission to build a strong community bound by neighbors supporting one another.
The Astoria Food Pantry is open every Monday morning from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. During this time, volunteers distribute pre-bagged bundles of groceries that include 2 pounds of white rice, vegetables (usually potatoes, onions, and carrots), fruits (usually bananas and apples), and bread (including bagels, rolls, and baguettes).
In the years since it began, The Astoria Food Pantry has grown and now leases physical space at 25-82 Steinway Street in Astoria. This location serves as a centralized hub for additional mutual aid work in Western Queens, such as The Free Store, The Rolling Library, the Astoria Trans Collective, and The People’s Bodega. We encourage you to check out all these initiatives.
If you want to go beyond donating and get involved, you can volunteer for the Astoria Food Pantry or host a donation drive to collect goods for the food pantry as well.
Why we’re supporting The Astoria Food Pantry
We believe cannabis is about community first and foremost. We wouldn’t be here without the support of both our geographical and cannabis communities, and we feel obligated to contribute to their well-being. The work The Astoria Food Pantry is doing to provide direct support to our neighbors in the city many of us call home, and build connections that forge a stronger community, inspires us. We want to thank them by contributing what we can.
Cannabis is a source of healing for so many people in so many ways, but it’s not a panacea for the problems our society faces. Problems like food insecurity and lack of access to resources are not abstract; they affect real people every single day. As the legal cannabis industry grows in New York City, we have the opportunity — and the obligation — to help do something about these problems.
Food insecurity, in particular, is often an invisible problem; you can’t always tell which of your neighbors are skipping meals or rationing their groceries just to get by. In New York City, 11.3% of households didn’t have enough food between 2020 and 2022 — that’s 875,000 families going without nutritious meals. Those numbers represent real homes where parents are making the choice to go without so their kids can have a little extra to eat, homes where someone chooses to go to bed hungry, so they can stretch their food budget just a bit further.
Amid this troubling backdrop, The Astoria Food Pantry is putting much-needed groceries in the hands of these New Yorkers at no cost. The work these volunteers are doing is literally feeding the hungry by providing direct material support to families in need, week in and week out. That’s why The Astoria Food Pantry is a critical part of our community and an organization we’re thrilled to support.
Please join us at CannaContent as we contribute to this worthy cause as a thank you to all the work they’ve already done and by providing the resources they need so they can do even more.
How to donate
- Visit the Astoria Food Pantry website.
- Head to their General Fund.
- Donate the amount of your choosing.
- Take a screenshot of the receipt and email it to hello@cannacontent.co.
- We’ll reply in kind with proof of our matching donation!