Island Harvest sets world record

Island Harvest Food Bank set the Guinness World Record for the longest line of hunger-relief packages, the Hauppauge-based organization announced Friday.

Volunteers from Island Harvest, along with volunteers from PSEG Long Island and members of the community, worked together this past February to line up 1,805 hunger-relief packages of cereal, fruit cups, pasta and other essentials — enough to supplement more than 10,000 meals. The effort shattered the previous record of 1,000 packages.

The packages were later distributed to food-insecure children on the Island, through the organization’s Kids Weekend Backpack Feeding Program, which provides food support for young students who rely on their school’s breakfast and lunch program, but often don’t have enough to eat on the weekends.

“We are honored to have established this new world record, and we’re grateful to the staff, volunteers, and PSEG Long Island volunteers who helped make this record-breaking attempt a reality,” said Randi Shubin Dresner, president of Island Harvest. “In addition to being an excellent team-building exercise, the world record attempt helped publicize the critically important issue of childhood hunger across Long Island.”

On the Guinness World Records website, the official entry reads:

The longest line of hunger relief packages is 1,805, and was achieved by Gianna Bottone and Randi Shubin Dresner (both USA) in Hauppauge, New York, USA, on February 1, 2019. Gianna and Randi work for Island Harvest, who attempted this record to give a visual representation of how much food they give out every week for their Weekend Backpack Program.

Guinness World Records

The record was observed by Christine Gayron, president of Melville-based Gayron de Bruin Land Surveying and Engineering to officially verify the results, along with two independent witnesses per Guinness requirements.

For more information about Island Harvest, visit IslandHarvest.org.