Biz Buzz

Erin’s Angels of CNY, Inc. announces the launch of its inaugural scholarship program, the Feed our Future Scholarship Fund.

The company’s 2022-2023 program will provide four $500 scholarships to students pursuing their college education.

“Our mission from day one has been to make education a priority,” said Sheila Dion, Erin’s Angels Founder. “We understand how challenging and expensive it can be to pursue a secondary education. This organization grew from the realization that we could make sure hunger would not get in the way of a child’s education. We are excited to step into this new venture of launching a scholarship program in a time when people need it more than ever.”

The full list of eligibility is as follows:

• Student must be a senior in high school.
• Student must have maintained between a 2.0 and 4.0 GPA throughout his or her final two years in high school.
• Student must have volunteered for a minimum of 100 hours for organizations fighting food insecurity or have overcome a significant family or emotional hardship. Specifics should be included in essay.
• Student should be able to produce three references: two of which should be from teachers or administrative staff.
• Student must show an acceptance letter to attend college or technical school the semester following his or her high school graduation. Letter should be shown at time of distribution

To learn more about the scholarship visit: www.erinsangels.com/scholarship/

The Community Appreciation Dinner was held on Thursday, March 31st. At this event Erin's Angels thanks volunteers, donors and local businesses for their generosity with their time and money. Awards were given to:

• Patrick Dewine- Oswego County United Way
• Angie Neiss- JCB Physical Education Teacher
• Cathy Perry- Dumpster Diva
• Jim Lynch- Lock 1 Distilling Company
• Shelly Hoffman- Heart Home & Community

# # # About Erin’s Angels

Since nutrition affects cognitive, social and emotional development, children who do not get proper foods are more likely to have problems learning, growing and interacting. Erin's Angels is a nonprofit that ensures that children who rely on subsidized lunches continue to receive food vital to their growth and development.   

There is an immediate need to assist in combating food insecurity for elementary students in the Phoenix Central School District in order to ensure student focus on academic success. Hunger can greatly affect a student’s performance in school. Children who skip meals and are hungry perform poorer than their peers who have consistent access to food. Hunger has been linked to lower math scores, increased potential to repeat or fail a grade, and affected attendance to class.

 Approximately 14% of individuals in food insecure homes indicated that at least one person went without eating over the weekend. This greatly affects the demeanor of the children in these situations. A study in the impact of similar backpack programs displayed a change in elementary students: teachers indicated that students receiving food packages were better behaved, more attentive, and engaged in lessons.
53.4% of students in the Oswego County public school system receive free or reduced-price lunch during the school year. Many of these students rely on these meals as their main meals throughout the week. When some of these students go home for the weekend, their meals are very uncertain. Over extended breaks, like Spring Break, which can last ten days or more, the amount of food and number of meals is severely affected. 

It is through your funding that we can ensure that the qualifying children are able to be sent home with a sufficient amount of food to last extended breaks.  Currently, Erin’s Angels works with 70 families and 108 students weekly to ensure they are sent home with food to supplement and provide meals while they aren’t in school. In order to provide these services, and extend services to more students, Erin’s Angels needs additional funding in order to continue providing and growing their service.