Sycamore Collaborative

Bringing the pantry to YOU 🚚🧡

Our mobile food service resumes today, offering healthy meals to as many people as possible. You can access this FREE service by stopping by one of our many mobile sites!

📍 Various elementary schools across Schenectady
🕜 ALL mobile services are from 1:45 to 2:45 pm
‼️ In partnership with and following the SCSD calendar

No matter the weather, our community friends and their cheerful smiles kept shining ✨🧡

Last week was our 6th annual Friends n’ Farmers Fall Festival, and despite the rain, we enjoyed every moment together! Thank you to all the wonderful friends who joined us and to the local farms for their support. Along with our dedicated staff and helpful volunteers, this warmth and kindness brightened the afternoon, encouraging everyone to embrace all that fall brings.

Taking action now and in the months ahead 🧡

Orange vibrantly highlights awareness of food insecurity and is the official color of Hunger Action Month, observed throughout September. This empowering, uplifting color is also a favorite here at the Sycamore Collaborative!

Our dedicated staff and food pantry volunteers wore orange to close out Hunger Action Month, a cheerful reminder that we are always here to feed our community.

Hope you are ready to enjoy…

🤹 Playing fun festival games with friends

🌽 Fresh produce from a local farm, Dagele Brothers Produce

📝 Connecting with other essential community organizations

🥧 Savoring fall favorites, like seasonal ice cream flavors and other treats

Plus, complimentary reusable shopping bags will be available, making it even easier to grab what you need for the fall season. Best of all, everything is completely free and happening tomorrow afternoon!

2026 Friends n’ Farmers Fall Festival
🗓️ Saturday, September 26
🕛 From 12 to 2 pm, everything is free while supplies last
📍 Sycamore Collaborative, Schenectady, NY 12307

Sharing our story to spread hope here and in communities over 🧡

This past Saturday, our Executive Director, Aldo R. Juárez-Romero, had the honor of presenting "Acción Comunitaria" (Community in Action), a workshop at the 2026 Talleres de la Concentración de Iglesias Bautistas Latinas in New Jersey. This event brings together Hispanic and Latino Baptist congregations to strengthen families, church leadership, and more.

Aldo took part in conversations exploring how faith communities can activate the institutions and resources already in place. He also shared our story, spanning nearly 60 years in Schenectady, beginning in 1967 with a covenant among member faith communities and growing a food-access effort from a church basement in the 1970s. What began as a Christian-funded effort has formally become an interfaith organization, a shift rooted in the same conviction that brought us here in the first place: that dignity, justice, and the work of feeding our neighbors belong to the whole community, not just those who share our pews.

Today, the Sycamore Collaborative welcomes more than 20 faith communities that stand alongside our government partners, community organizations, and 300+ volunteers each year to reach thousands of families facing food insecurity.

“It was a privilege to share that history with faith leaders who understand, better than most, that lasting change doesn't come from charity alone — it comes from organizing: connecting people of faith, people in need, and the institutions with the resources to make real, sustained change. Grateful to The Rev. Dr. Luciano Marquez, Associate Regional Pastor for Latino Ministries with the American Baptist Churches of New Jersey, and everyone at CIBL–ABCNJ for the invitation.”

Embracing the season ahead and all the amazing things autumn brings 🌻🧡🌽

Tomorrow marks the fall equinox for everyone in the Northern Hemisphere, a special moment when the Sun, on its yearly drift across our sky, crosses the celestial equator heading south. Here in the North, the harvest is in full swing, and nights are growing longer. Yet Earth-centered faith traditions remind us that this is a time to celebrate and rejoice in community.

The Sycamore Collaborative looks to the start of fall with hope for community togetherness and nourishment in the coming season. As you get ready for this exciting new time, we warmly invite you to join us this Saturday for our annual community fall event!

2026 Friends n’ Farmers Fall Festival
🗓️ Saturday, September 26
🕛 From 12 to 2 pm, everything is free while supplies last
📍 Sycamore Collaborative, Schenectady, NY 12307

Today’s sundown will bring about Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year in Judaism, also known as the Day of Atonement. Jewish people throughout Schenectady and the world will observe Yom Kippur through fasting, prayer, and repentance. This holiday is a commitment to seek harmony with neighbors, to oneself, and to the divine. May reconciliation not only be an idea, but an aim to heal our communities and beyond.

The Sycamore Collaborative sends hopes for meaningful reflections and to all who observe, g'mar chatima tovah

📸 In Morocco, some Jewish households will enjoy mint tea with marzipan cookies or fijuelas, fried pastries soaked in sweet syrup to break the Yom Kippur fast.

Hispanic Heritage Month is a month-long celebration of Hispanic and Latino history and culture. The Latino presence and impact in America span centuries, and today, they represent the largest racial or ethnic group in the United States, with a population of over 60 million.

Now through October 15, we honor the incredible impact Hispanic and Latino communities have had for generations, fostering a deeper appreciation of their cultures to inspire our community efforts. The Sycamore Collaborative proudly welcomes Hispanic Heritage Month, joining celebrations of the countless contributions across advocacy, vibrant art, popular and traditional foods, and much more.

📸 Avocados are native to the Americas, ranging from Mexico to Peru and encompassing much of Central America, as well as parts of northern and western South America. They have become extremely popular in the U.S., with over 2.7 billion pounds of avocados imported from Mexico, Peru, the Dominican Republic, and other countries in 2023.

That’s a wrap on the 2026 Summer Meals season 😎🥪💛

Thank you to everyone who stepped up and showed out for this year’s program. From a fun start at the 2026 Kickoff to daily lunch services and Block Parties, it was an exciting summer of support. By the program’s end, nearly 7,000 meals had been served to children in your community!

The Sycamore Collaborative appreciates our hardworking staff, eager interns, program partners, and amazing volunteers, as well as the families we welcomed throughout the summer. Your participation means the world to us and continues to fuel community efforts to fight hunger as we move into the seasons ahead.