DOVER-FOXCROFT – A local woman was recognized recently for a program she developed that channels unused food from restaurants to homeless shelters and soup kitchens in White Plains, N.Y.

Dana Frasz, 22, who created the Empty Bellies Program, received the first annual Youth Award given by Westchester Coalition for the Hungry and Homeless during its ninth annual Fight Hunger and Homelessness Award dinner held Thursday.

“It was great,” Frasz said Friday of her recognition. “Hopefully the award and the success of the Empty Bellies program is instrumental to other people.”

The Sarah Lawence College senior created and organized a program in New York City’s Bronx area in which leftover food is collected from eateries and her college on a daily basis and then donated to food pantries.

Frasz said she strongly believes that hunger is a form of violence in society in that it is going to take a lot more than food, money, and clothing to stop hunger.

“It’s going to take a restructuring of a lot of social structures and government policies,” she said. “We can’t just keep giving them handouts; we also need to empower them to be able to obtain what they need without people giving it to them.