ELMSFORD − After five years at the helm of Feeding Westchester during which the regional food bank doubled in size, President and CEO Karen C. Erren has parted ways with one of the region’s largest nonprofits. A national search is under way to find her replacement.
The news came in a Feeding Westchester press release Wednesday that noted Erren, “who led the organization through significant growth and expansion, has stepped down by mutual agreement.”
Efforts to reach Erren for comment were unsuccessful.
Feeding Westchester CEO led food bank out of pandemic, doubled its size
The departure comes one month after Erren’s five-year anniversary. The Arkansas native arrived in July 2020 when uncertainty reigned in the grip of the pandemic. She and her staff navigated the unknowable, creating processes that kept food on tables of neighbors who were struggling the most.
Working with a skeleton staff adhering to strict COVID-safety protocols, the food kept going out. Mobile food pantries offered families drive-thru services. Food pantry shelves were still stocked. This year, Feeding Westchester provided more than 21 million pounds of food to 175 food pantries.
Erren stressed the need for fresh produce and on her watch the Elmsford warehouse was expanded greatly to accommodate fresh and shelf-stable offerings.
In the statement announcing Erren’s departure, the nonprofit’s board of directors “expressed deep gratitude for her leadership and contributions to the organization’s success over the past five years.”
Karen Erren: ‘A well-fed man has many problems. A hungry man has one.’
In July 2020, Erren arrived from Palm Beach, Florida, but her accent was all Arkansas Ozarks. In a May 2021 interview, she started many of her sentences with “You know, there’s an old saying …” in a homespun manner that pulled the listener in.
She said she was fond of a certain bedrock saying: “A well-fed man has many problems. A hungry man has one.”
There is hunger in every community, every ZIP code, she said, adding, “Many days, I believe that there is hunger on every street.”
Even in Westchester.
“Our neighbors who are hungry are just like you and me, but they don’t have the family network or the safety net that so many of us have,” Erren said in the 2021 interview. “Westchester County is a very wealthy community, but alongside great wealth is great need. And that has always been true.”
Westchester food bank saw skyrocketing need in COVID times
Food banks measure the volume of the problem in the number of meals, if not people, served. If a person visits multiple food pantries per week — which they tend to do, since a bag of groceries is intended to last three to five days — they are counted multiple times.
Feeding Westchester’s numbers skyrocketed in the early part of the pandemic, dwarfing pre-COVID rates. In February 2020, there were 130,000 client visits. By May 2020, that number had nearly tripled, to 354,000, the pandemic peak.
According to the news release announcing Erren’s departure, “In 2025, Feeding Westchester provided more than 21 million pounds of food equivalent to more than 17 million meals through soup kitchens, food pantries, schools, shelters, residential programs, and mobile distributions. That served an average of 234,000 neighbor visits.”
Tami Wilson will lead Feeding Westchester during national search for new CEO
Chief Operating Officer Tami Wilson will lead Feeding Westchester during the national search for a new president and CEO, it was announced in the news release.
The need remains acute as food insecurity shows no sign of abating in Westchester, one of the nation’s wealthiest counties. More than one in three of the county’s households is at risk of hunger, and deep cuts in federal funding threaten to make the situation even more dire, a reality noted by Vinay Rao, chair of the Feeding Westchester board.
“Feeding Westchester is entering a pivotal moment in its history. The Board is committed to finding a CEO who will amplify our mission and guide our organization confidently into the future,” Rao said. “We are partnering with DSG Koya, a well-regarded executive recruitment leader, to conduct a thorough national search for a new CEO, guided by a shared commitment to Feeding Westchester’s mission to serve our neighbors in need and working with our partners toward a Westchester where no one is hungry.”
Peter D. Kramer is a 37-year staffer who writes long-form narratives on a variety of topics. His story looking back on the Oak Street fire in Yonkers won a national Headliner Award for outstanding news specials/feature column. Reach him at pkramer@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Elmsford nonprofit Feeding Westchester parts ways with CEO who led org through COVID
Reporting by Peter D. Kramer, Rockland/Westchester Journal News / Rockland/Westchester Journal News
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