Neri’s Bakery of Port Chester is the winner of the Food Bank for Westchester’s 2012 Hunger Heroes Donor Award.
Each year, the Food Bank presents four awards -- to a Service Provider, a Volunteer, a Donor and a Corporation – for their efforts and impacts in the fight against hunger during the past year.
This year’s recipients are:
Service Provider: Fred’s Pantry, of Peekskill
Volunteer: Lorraine Buonocunto, of the Ecumenical Emergency Food Pantry, White Plains
Donor: Neri’s Bakery
Corporation: Morgan Stanley Foundation.
Neri’s Bakery was founded in 1910 by Italian immigrant Paul Neri, who used a tiny brick oven to bake his bread. Today, the popular retail store on Pearl Street takes up a fraction of the enormous bakery facility surrounding it.
Run by Paul’s grandson, Dominick Neri, with the help of his adult children, Brett and Anthony, Neri’s Bakery produces a million bagels and 700,000 breads and rolls every day, and its products are sold under established name brands on store shelves nationwide and in the Caribbean.
The Neri family helps the community in many different ways including contributions and support to the Greenwich Special Olympics, the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, the Make a Wish Foundation of the Hudson Valley, the Ward Summer Learning Camp and the Knights of Columbus. To celebrate 100 years in business, Neri’s hosted a carnival in Lyons Park, treating thousands of neighbors with a day-long festival of food and rides, capped off with an evening of fireworks.
Neri’s provides cakes and pastries to Our Lady of the Rosary Church at Don Bosco Place and many of its programs. Neri’s also regularly donates bread, bagels, rolls, cookies and cakes to the Port Chester Carver Center for the children in the after-school program and seniors in the breakfast program as well as for the food pantry.
