Skip to main content

Natural Awakenings Westchester / Putnam / Dutchess New York

Whole Foods Donates $14K to Westchester Land Trust: Four days a year, each store selects a local organization to receive 5 percent of its net sales on that day.

Whole Foods Market: Westchester County has donated more than $14,000 to the Westchester Land Trust (WLT), the result of a community giving day held at each of the store’s three Westchester locations: Port Chester, White Plains and Yonkers.

“We are deeply grateful to all in the Westchester community who made a special effort to shop at Whole Foods Market on their 5 percent community giving day in December, and for Whole Foods for selecting Westchester Land Trust as their beneficiary,” says WLT President Lori Ensinger. “Whole Foods Market Westchester has long supported WLT’s sustainable agriculture programs and our efforts to preserve our region’s remaining farmland. This recent donation will help us support local farmers and ensure that community members have access to locally grown and nutrient-dense food.”

On WLT’s farm plots at its Sugar Hill Farm headquarters, the organization teaches hundreds of volunteers of all ages to grow organic vegetables and “green” their communities. The produce raised at the farm is donated to WLT’s partner, the Food Bank for Westchester, for distribution to families in need throughout the county. During the 2016 growing season, WLT volunteers harvested a record-breaking 2,670 pounds of produce, providing more than 12,900 individual servings of nutrient-rich food.

“We were thrilled to support the Westchester Land Trust and their Sugar Hill Farm project,” says Karen Greene, Whole Foods Market’s metro marketer Recharge Your Body for Westchester County. “We couldn’t be happier to provide financial support for their ongoing work and dedication to preserving and protecting the environment through various programs, in addition to providing fresh food for the underserved in our communities.”

Whole Foods created this fundraiser to give back to local communities through support of nonprofit organizations whose programs directly benefit the communities surrounding their stores. Four days a year, each store selects a local organization to receive 5 percent of its net sales on that day.

Based in Bedford Hills, WLT works with public and private partners to preserve land in perpetuity and enhance the natural resources in Westchester and eastern Putnam Counties, a densely populated region under persistent threat from the pressures of development. Through the use of conservation easements and outright acquisition, WLT seeks to benefit the long-term health of these communities by safeguarding air quality, food supply and community character, as well as critical watershed areas. Since its founding in 1988, WLT has preserved almost 8,000 acres of open space, including more than 700 acres of preserves owned by the organization which are free and open to the public.

For more info about WLT, visit WestchesterLandTrust.org, follow them on Facebook and Instagram (@Westchester-LandTrust) and on Twitter (@WLT_NY).