Mount Ida Preservation Association

Welcome! My name is Gemma Halfi, and I am the Coordinator of Community Engagement and Social Impact at Emma Willard School in Troy, NY.

For over 5 years, my high school students and I have had the honor and privilege of spending our Saturday mornings volunteering at the Mount Ida Food Pantry, just one mile down the hill from the top of Mount Ida, where our beautiful campus of Emma Willard School is idyllically situated. And yet, we know that right here in our own surrounding communities, many of our neighbors struggle with food insecurity and making ends meet.

The Mount Ida Food Pantry, where you can always find "Neighbors Helping Neighbors," is an integral program of the Mount Ida Preservation Association. The Pantry is facilitated by dedicated community members every Saturday morning in the basement of the Mount Ida Preservation Hall, serving 50-80 households per week.

Through an innovative project in collaboration with widely known Capital Region artist and muralist Eugene O'Neill, Emma Willard students are harnessing their compassion and artistic talent to raise $30,000 for the Mount Ida Food Pantry, directly funding much-needed renovations that will increase the storage capacity of the pantry, therefore increasing the number of households served every week with supplemental groceries.

We need your support!

Help us go from "Palette to Pantry" by sponsoring a section of the mural! All donors will be listed on a plaque next to the mural. If you would like your name listed on the plaque but not listed on this GoFundMe page, please fill out this form. Otherwise, names will appear as noted on this page.

Mural design and development is occurring from May 9-17, and Mural Painting will be on Sunday, May 18.

All donors and community members welcome to attend a Mural Reveal celebration on Saturday, May 24th at 12pm! Please RSVP here

Special thanks to the Louis & Hortense Rubin Community Fellows program for the foundational support for this initiative!

Read on for some personal reflections from current Emma Willard student volunteers:

What I love about volunteering at the food pantry is getting to be able to get an inside look into how the systems in place to support our communities work. Having the opportunity to take a small part in making that support happen is a very special feeling. It’s great to go to the pantry for a few weeks in a row and become a familiar face to the guests and regular volunteers. Getting to partake in this through Emma Willard has shown me an opportunity to get involved in the Troy community I likely would not have found on my own, and I am so grateful for that.

-Sofia P. ‘25, Gansevoort, NY

What I love about the pantry is the fact that you are helping a community and connecting with a community in both direct and indirect ways. Because, yes, you're directly giving someone groceries that will help them feel secure this week, but you're also saying good morning, and learning about their day, and memorizing their name, and getting to know them and their family. I really think Mt. Ida provides an amazing service to the neighborhood, both as a food pantry and also as a source of community through the events they host :)

Helena D. ‘25, Woodside, CA

I love volunteering at the food pantry because I enjoy helping people, and getting to know people with different stories. Every time when I see the guests smile at me, that always makes my day. Others should volunteer at the food pantry because you get to realize how much simple joy there will be after helping people! -Emily C. ‘26, Taiwan