Avid hikers, Amanda and Fred Dennstedt, discovered Peekskill during one of their outdoor adventures. They liked its proximity to New York City and the lively local social scene as well as the access it affords them to great hiking spots such as Anthony’s Nose. Three years ago, the couple made the move from Brooklyn to Peekskill, realizing that it is more in line with their lifestyle.

Once they moved to their new home, Fred Dennstedt, who is a graphic designer, started an Instagram account — Peekskill Exurbanist. “The focus has been on promoting the fun things in Peekskill — the restaurants, bars and event listings of things that were going on in town. When Covid-19 hit we started promoting what restaurants are doing to stay open. They are a big part of the renaissance of Peekskill and we want people to support them,” he explains. During the Covid-19 induced lockdown, Dennstedt found himself with some extra time on his hands so he created the website exurbanist.com and shared a list of restaurants that were doing take-out.

Dennstedt was working with the restauranteur John Sharp of Birdsall House and when Covid-19 closed down restaurants for dining in, the restaurant did a pivot. It became Birdsall Market, setting up meal boxes and delivery. As part of an effort to revitalize downtown Peekskill, Sharp and Dennstedt have been working on a program RIDE, an app that brings together ebikes, electric shuttles and local Uber. Promoting it with food deliveries was a good way to draw attention to the initiative.

“The other element in town, was a growing food crisis,” says Dennstedt. He found out just how much food insecurity there is during a Town Meeting call. CHHOP CEO, Cynthia Knox was on the call and talked about the increase in clients needing food from Fred’s Pantry. “I came up with the idea for a fundraiser. CHHOP is very well established and has solid infrastructure in place, so we decided to do a fundraiser for Fred’s Pantry,” comments Dennstedt.

The fundraiser ran for one week and promoted Birdsall Market, RIDE and CHHOP. Dennstedt and his wife started the fundraiser with $100 and promised a 25 percent match for all other donations. The fundraiser was promoted on exurbanist.com and donors gave money through a donation link on the Birdsall Market site. During that one week of May 8 through 15, over $1,500 was raised.

“CHHOP is a very big presence in the community and very much a part of the community and we want to support them,” concludes Dennestedt.