A youth-led nonprofit · Harrison, New York

Where grocery stores don't reach, Desert Bloom does.

We're a youth-led nonprofit bringing fresh, hand-chosen meals to neighbors in Westchester's food deserts, packed and delivered alongside local kitchens, farms, and sponsors.

Donate

The reality

Across Westchester, too many neighbors can't reach a fresh meal.

Mount Vernon, the highest unmet hunger need in Westchester · Feeding Westchester / BCG, 2023

The need is all around us. Across Westchester, neighbors are experiencing homelessness, families cannot afford enough to eat, and many who can buy groceries still cannot reach or afford fresh food. In a food desert, at least a third of residents live more than half a mile from a supermarket, far enough that a missed bus or a tight week puts real produce out of reach. What goes missing is not only a meal, but the dignity of a fresh, healthy one. Desert Bloom exists to close that gap: we source and fund real food, then deliver it directly to the people who need it most. Mount Vernon is the largest food desert we serve, and just one of many. Your donation is what makes the next fresh meal possible.

24.9%

About 1 in 4 adults in New York State experience food insecurity.

NY State Dept. of Health

~3M

New Yorkers receive SNAP benefits every single month.

NY State Comptroller · 2025

½ mile

The distance that defines a food desert when a third of an area lives farther than it from a supermarket.

How a food desert is defined

Daniel and Liam Wellisch with a CSA Kitchen volunteer, giving a thumbs up in the kitchen storeroom

On the ground

We source, fund, and deliver fresh meals to Westchester's food deserts, one neighborhood at a time.

What we do

Real meals, chosen by hand and packed for delivery.

We don't hand out cans. We source fresh food, build it into hand-chosen meal boxes, and get them to neighbors who'd otherwise go without. We team up with local corporate sponsors who fund the food, and with farms and kitchens who help make and move it. The name is the idea: a desert is a place where good food doesn't grow, so we bring the bloom to it.

Source fresh food

We pick up fresh produce and ingredients, real food chosen to make a full meal, not just fill a bag. Sponsors fund it; farms and stores help supply it.

Fresh ingredients and sauces lined up during meal prep

A volunteer tossing a large bowl of fresh salad in the kitchen

Pack by hand

Every box is cooked and packed by hand alongside our partners' teams, built to feed a household: balanced, fresh, and ready to eat.

Deliver it warm

We bring the meals straight to the neighborhood and hand them out the same day, hot, fresh, and face to face.

A founder logging details on a laptop with a community member at a delivery

Partnerships

CSA Kitchen is our largest partner, and just one of many.

CSA Kitchen is one of many partners we work with, and our largest, serving 100+ people a month alongside us. Across Westchester we run monthly corporate sponsorships and partnerships: companies that fund meals, farms that donate food, and other kitchens and pantries. We source and fund the meals ourselves, and donate directly to the organizations that help us serve them. We also partner with the Boys & Girls Club of Greenwich, where we help feed the kids and spend time with them.

Largest partner: CSA Kitchen
Founded: 1986
Monthly: 100+ people
Served with CSA: 500+ in our partnership

Largest partnerships

CSA
Soup Kitchen

Boys & Girls Club
of Greenwich

Daniel and Liam Wellisch with a partner outside the CSA Kitchen building in Mount Vernon

Daniel and Liam bagging baked goods at the soup kitchen

Volunteers carving roast chicken in the CSA Kitchen

Founders packing meals with cases of water at the kitchen

The most recent event

In our most recent event we served 94 people a fresh, hot meal in Mount Vernon.

In the past month · Mount Vernon, New York

Impact

Built to grow.

We're scaling fast, and every dollar goes straight to fresh food, where it goes a long way.

106

people receive meals at the average Desert Bloom event.

$350

is roughly all it takes for us to feed 100 people a meal.

Monthly

corporate sponsorships and partnerships across Westchester.

Boxes of fresh meals and salads ready to go — Meal boxes

Fresh pesto pasta prepared in a large tray — Fresh food

Founders bagging baked goods for delivery — Packing day

Gallery

From the kitchen.

We source, cook, pack, and deliver ourselves, and donate directly to partner organizations across Westchester.

Daniel plating penne into a takeout container

Daniel and Liam with a CSA Kitchen volunteer outside the Mount Vernon site

Liam tossing a large bowl of caesar salad

Daniel handing a bag of food to a neighbor at the kitchen door

Liam packing a salad and chicken meal beside crates of citrus

Daniel and Liam topping salad trays with cheese

Liam garnishing trays of pesto pasta with fresh basil

Daniel and Liam giving a thumbs up with a CSA Kitchen volunteer

Daniel and Liam serving salad and chicken alongside a volunteer

Daniel and Liam prepping salad trays together

Daniel and Liam bagging cookies and sandwiches for delivery

Daniel mopping the kitchen floor during cleanup

Trays of fresh meals lined up and ready to pack

Who we are

Two brothers, doing the work themselves.

Desert Bloom was founded by Daniel and Liam Wellisch, twin brothers and high-school students from Harrison, New York. They run it together and share every part of the work: sourcing the food, packing the meals, building partnerships, and showing up for the deliveries. What started as a way to get fresh, real meals to neighbors who go without grew into the nonprofit it is today.

Portrait of Daniel Wellisch, co-founder of Desert Bloom Foundation — Daniel Wellisch
President and Co-Founder

Portrait of Liam Wellisch, co-founder of Desert Bloom Foundation — Liam Wellisch
President and Co-Founder

Daniel and Liam with a CSA Kitchen partner — We're the ones sourcing, funding, and delivering every meal.

Get involved

Help the next block bloom.

Every meal starts with someone deciding to show up. Here's how you can, whether you give, partner, or roll up your sleeves.

Donate

Fund the food

Around $350 feeds 100 people. Desert Bloom is a registered 501(c)(3), so your gift is tax-deductible, and every dollar buys fresh ingredients.

Donate on GoFundMe

Partner

Sponsor or supply

For companies offering a corporate sponsorship, farms that want to donate food, or kitchens and pantries like CSA. Let's feed more, together.

Volunteer

Show up and help

For individuals who want to lend a hand at the next event, packing boxes and handing out meals. This is hands-on help, not a donation.

Desert Bloom Foundation is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Donations are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.