Featured
Businesses
Putnam County is home to a vibrant community of small businesses that bring energy, creativity, and pride to our local economy. Each business highlighted here has achieved something noteworthy, whether through exceptional service, innovative products, strong community engagement, or steady growth that reflects the advantages of operating in Putnam County.
These stories represent more than individual accomplishments. They show what can happen when entrepreneurs have access to reliable local support, a talented workforce, and a county that truly values small business success.
Explore the featured businesses below to see how they have grown in Putnam County and to learn why so many others are choosing to start, build, and invest here.
Second Chance Foods
Meal Preparation Food Rescue Program Unique to Putnam County
Second Chance Foods Celebrates 10th Anniversary
Healthy Asian vegetable stir fry, hearty bean soup, and mac-and-cheese were just three of the entrees on the menu recently when PCEDC stopped by Second Chance Foods in Brewster. The day before, tuna cakes, vegetable beef soup and salads were prepared.
The food rescue program is one of a kind in Putnam County because of its unique hot meal preparation. This year, it celebrates its 10th anniversary. From humble beginnings in 2016 and its first pot of ginger carrot soup, today the nonprofit prepares more than 3,700 meals a week in its Marvin Avenue kitchen facility. From planning daily menus, to chopping ingredients, to cooking the meals and packaging them, a lot of moving parts turn 365 days a year.
“It’s always a puzzle,” says food rescue coordinator Alicia Menduni, as she unloaded mystery boxes of produce and groceries from nearby Ace Endico. The fresh lettuce and peppers will likely make a lot of salads.
“I’m proud of the work we do, and especially in making people aware that hunger exists here in Putnam County,” says Martha Elder, executive director. “It’s not only the Guatemalan migrants in downtown Brewster; food insecurity exists all over the county, with the young and the old alike.”
Elder, a founding member of the organization, says that data shows Google searches for terms like “Food Pantry Open Today,” have increased 30 percent in the first quarter of 2026. “Everyone is only one step away from food insecurity,” adds Melissa Paladino, community outreach manager.
Powerful Partnerships
Second Chance Foods partners with more than a dozen food programs and organizations in Putnam County, including Brewster Cares, Adult Protective Services, senior centers, and approximately 16 others throughout Westchester, Dutchess, and Orange, counties, and Connecticut.
Each day, the organization’s 10 employees and volunteers pick up and accept delivery of fresh meat, produce and grocery items donated by Trader Joe’s in Danbury, Ace Endico and DeCicco & Sons in Brewster, local farms, and other donors. “A local resident showed up at our door with a bag of cucumbers from his garden one day” recalls Elder. No donation is too small.
The three culinary managers, with backgrounds in nutrition, evaluate what’s available in the kitchen’s commercial freezers and pantry to set the day’s menu. “We see what’s on hand and who we’re cooking for that day, and decide what to make,” says Kathryn LaCombe, culinary director.
“We’re very flexible here,” says Elder. “It’s pivot, pivot, pivot,” adds Paladino, since the team never knows what may be donated on any given day, and what they will make into 500 meals.
Since January, the organization has made more than 88,000 individual meal portions – soups, stews, chili, pulled pork, fajitas – that are frozen and delivered to local partners. Two of its most loved programs are Bountiful Meals and Nourishing Meals, partnerships it launched with the Cornell Cooperative Extension Program of Putnam.
Bountiful Meals stocks frozen entrees into 9 freezers that the organization delivers to senior centers, local libraries and other locations. More freezer access locations are planned for this year.
Food Available to Everyone
Elder says that the food is readily accessible – no forms, no fuss, just food — unlike programs that have income requirements for families.
Second Chance Foods is grateful for its many donors, volunteers and partners, and has a wish list. It continually works to locate more resources as food insecurity grows, according to Paladino. Its goal is to avoid rent and purchase a facility of its own. Financial gifts are always welcome.
The organization will celebrate its 10th anniversary at a fall fundraising gala at Mount Kisco Country Club on Oct. 15th. Details and tickets will be available soon on the website.
Check out Second Chance Foods’ website. To volunteer or to donate, call 845-734-3002, or email info@secondchancefoods.org.
LesserEvil
LesserEvil Brand Snack Co. Celebrates First Anniversary in Putnam County
Widely recognized for its logo – a whimsical guru sitting on the front of colorful packaging – LesserEvil found its new home in July 2025 at Lincoln Logistics’ 84×684 Crossings on Pugsley Road off Route 312 in Brewster.
Recently acquired by the Hershey Company, LesserEvil marks this anniversary with explosive growth and a new product launch later this year. In addition to popcorn, it makes Cheezemos cheese curls, Moonions onion snacks, and cheddar Space Balls at its Danbury factory.
“Putnam has been very welcoming and was excited to get us into this space,” says Allen Avery, senior warehouse operations manager. “We worked with the town and its zoning, and everyone was very helpful.”
Shipping 1.5 million Bags of Popcorn
From a 303,100-square-foot warehouse that would fit five football fields, LesserEvil ships a minimum of 1.5 million bags of popcorn a day, according to Meghan Park, vice president of operations. “On a busy day, we ship 2,300 pallets,” adds Avery. The company was happy to find a warehouse that would accommodate its rapid expansion, Avery says. “We are growing incredibly fast,” according to Park.
LesserEvil recently added warehouse racks to stack pallets, doubling the pallet-spaces from 14,000 to 28,000. The warehouse, one of two at this location, is modern and immaculate.
“This is not a normal warehouse,” says Avery with a smile. “It’s not dark and gritty. We want employees to be well and happy working here.” Employees like using the new forklifts, machines, and other advanced technology, along with brightly colored, adult-sized tricycles to get around the huge space.
The company found the space as it was being built, allowing it to make additions, including offices, a gym, and a trucker lounge where drivers can use restrooms, get a snack, and rest.
Cool Company; Great Culture
LesserEvil products are made with organic coconut and avocado oil, which are more healthful than traditional seed oils. It prides itself on sustainable farming and sourcing of healthy ingredients.
Park, who relocated to the area for this career opportunity, says that company culture is one of the assets that attracted her. “It’s a great product with great branding. It’s a cool company to be part of,” she says.
The company mascot, the guru, who takes on different personalities on each snack bag, says: “We believe small choices create big impact, which is why we craft mindfully made snacks with organic ingredients and sustainable practices in our own factories. No shortcuts, no compromises – just delicious, affordable, feel-good snacks that guide you to something greater.”
The company is recruiting staff, looking to add to its warehouse workforce of more than 50. “We’re hiring and would love to tap into local talent,” Park explains. “It’s a great place to work with a great culture. We live out our values.”
Park adds that the company likes to promote from within, and 90 percent of lead positions and manager promotions are current employees. For example, Aaron Vaughan, warehouse manager, has come up through the ranks. He is now hiring for employees to drive trucks, forklifts, and fill other warehouse roles. The company provides training and accommodates Spanish-speaking people. The No. 1 skill they seek is having a great attitude, according to Avery.
He adds: “LesserEvil is a robust and growing company that would love to hire local folks from the Putnam area.”
“Come join a company with a huge growth agenda,” says Park.
To apply for employment at LesserEvil, please email jobs@lesserevil.com
Putnam County Service Dogs
Putnam Service Dogs Trains Rescues to Lift Up People’s Lives
Putnam Service Dogs, a Brewster nonprofit that trains rescue dogs to be service dogs, celebrates its 10th anniversary this year.
Founded by Nancy Teague, a former New York City health care administrator and entrepreneur, the organization is passionate about its mission statement: “We champion our dogs and their people. We lift up their lives. … And they lived happily ever after.”
Dogs who might otherwise be forgotten or euthanized get a second chance at life, and more importantly, an opportunity to make a difference in the lives of a physically disabled person or a military veteran with post-traumatic stress disorder.
Teague, who relocated to Brewster in 2011, launched her 501(c)(3) in 2016, initially training dogs just in people’s homes. In 2023, she purchased the organization’s current headquarters and training facility on Route 6, overlooking Middle Branch Reservoir. She fenced the large backyard and renovated the building to include an apartment for a fulltime caretaker. “The dogs are never alone. They have someone 24/7,” Teague says.
With three part-time service dog trainers, the organization is particular about matching service dogs with applicants. “We truly live our mission,” says Teague. “We champion our dogs by setting them up for success, and they, in turn, lift up the lives of those we place them with. We truly work for both our dogs and their people. It’s so incredibly gratifying.”
A Strong Dog-Person Bond
Teague and the training team are fastidious about vetting and matching a dog with a person. “We watch how a dog initially greets a person, if it stays with that person without coaxing, and how comfortable and happy the person seems on a walk. If a dog likes a person, it’ll check in with them frequently while walking together and on a loose leash. If the dog doesn’t like the person, it won’t look at the person and is unresponsive. It can literally look untrained. If the chemistry isn’t there, the match won’t happen,” says Teague.
Training dogs for service work isn’t like training a pet, Teague explains, and only 50 percent of Putnam Service Dogs graduate. “A service dog has to be attentive and closely bonded to their person.”
“Service dogs are held to a level of performance that is much higher. They’re taught to wait at every threshold, including their crate. We often give service dogs to people who are elderly and frail, so they can’t be rushing the door and acting rambunctious and puppy-like.”
On average, the dogs go through two years of training before graduating as service dogs. Not every dog is suited to become a service animal. “Only very special dogs want to do this job,” says head trainer Melissa Schiraldi. Jared, for example, is a 6-month-old hound mix that Schiraldi is training. He’s attentive to her, smart, and wants to please, making him a good candidate for service training, she says.
Rescue Dogs are Carefully Vetted
Putnam Service Dogs finds good candidates from reputable rescue organizations, which are evaluated by Schiraldi for temperament.
When a dog is a great animal but just isn’t right for service work, Teague and the training team determine them to be a release dog and will place them with a person who only needs emotional support.
“Service dogs do tasks for people with disabilities that they can’t do for themselves, like pick up a dropped item,” she explains. “Release dogs have shown they don’t have the capacity or interest to be a service dog, and that’s OK, they can be an emotional support dog.”
Over the past few years, Teague has seen a significant increase in the number of applicants. “I get six to 10 applications a week,” she says, citing the approximate 500,000 U.S. service dogs working today, according to Ability Central.
Putnam Service Dogs relies mostly on donations and grants. “The grant world is very competitive,” Teague says, but she’s grateful for continued support from the Hudson Valley Community Foundation, local Rotary groups, and the Ridgefield Thrift Store in Connecticut.
10th Anniversary Gala on June 18
The organization will celebrate on June 18 with “A Decade of Impact: 10 Year Anniversary Gala,” at Salem Golf Club in North Salem. Registration and details of the gala can be found here.
“We’re showing our appreciation for who we are and what we’ve done and our unique presence,” says Teague.
The organization also recently began selling merch, including hoodies, T-shirts and caps with clever dog quotes and sayings, including “Dog Kisses are the Best Therapy.” Proceeds go to help train the dogs. People may also make a donation in memory or honor of their dog which is memorialized on an engraved plaque at the training facility.
Teague sums it up best: “People are finally realizing the incredible impact dogs can make on someone’s life. Seeing it in real time is extremely rewarding.”
REELEX
REELEX’s Long and Winding Road from WWII to Patterson
While Putnam County is often seen as a bucolic community, it’s also home to manufacturing, including REELEX Packaging Solutions at Robin Hill Corporate Park in Patterson.
The company makes machines that help cable and wire manufacturers wind and package their product in a way that results in zero twist, tangles or hassles during payout or installation. The REELEX coil is a patented method of precision-winding filamentary products like fiber optic cables, copper cables, telephone wire, conduit and more into a figure-eight coil.
Without a REELEX machine, a customer like Belden, a global leader in network, connectivity and cables for many industries, would be hard-pressed to find another source that can provide twist-free, tangle-free winding and packaging solutions that installers prefer.
“Our secret sauce is in the math,” says President and CEO David Gerhart, a mechanical engineer specializing in industrial automation. “Making a coil requires precise control so it doesn’t knot up, twist, or tangle.”
As a value added for its more than 180 licensees, the privately held REELEX provides customers with packaging templates that use more affordable, durable and sustainable materials like cardboard as opposed to using wooden or plastic reels.
Licensees also benefit from having access to the Co-Creation Lab where they work with REELEX engineers to produce new innovations.
Transformation of Cable Winding
From its 55,000-square-foot high-tech machine shop and warehouse, REELEX has quietly been transforming the cable winding industry in 22 countries worldwide for decades.
“With 100 percent certainty, the wires that are in your home heating/AC thermostat came out of a REELEX box,” according to Gerhart.
The CEO is animated as he recalls REELEX’s history, starting with World War II, especially noting its journey from a New York City garage to Putnam County.
“We have an interesting background,” says Gerhart, a history buff. “When I joined the business five years ago, I went through the files and board minutes from 1962 on.”
Culling through archives, Gerhart created a timeline of how REELEX operated when it was founded as Windings in 1958. According to Gerhart, it’s unique for a company this size to have maintained copious notes in good condition for more than 65 years. “My predecessors were really good at taking notes,” he says of the typed meeting minutes. He also found renderings of the first machines, restoring them into framed artwork for office walls.
Roots in World War II
As the story goes, the idea for Windings was hatched when two New York City inventors – Walter Taylor and Jim Newman – set out to save the lives of American soldiers in the war. Taylor first conceived the idea as an improved way for combat troops to lay field telephone wire while having their hands free to hold a gun. As a soldier advanced, the wire would dispense from a figure-eight coil in a canvas container attached to his belt.
After World War II, they created a figure-eight winding machine and received a patent so Taylor could start selling his technology. In 1963, during the Vietnam war, the company was contacted by the US Military to develop a tangle and twist-free battlefield cable dispensing system. In 1968, they developed a “field pack” backpack that contained up to 500 meters of communication cables and allow infantrymen to rapidly deploy cables across the battlefield.
In the 1970s, REELEX focused on commercial opportunities and signed its first licensee, Belden, in 1973. REELEX really took off in the 1980s as the “tangle-free box” became more readily available.
Read the full company history on the REELEX website.
In 1993, the private company was sold and moved to Patterson, a location that allowed for expansion.
From its days as a family business, REELEX still maintains its culture of tight knit, highly collaborative teamwork. “In my 35-year career, I’ve never seen this level of collaboration,” explains Gerhart.
A Culture of Change
In his five years at REELEX, Gerhart has brought streamlining and efficiency to his team. For example, a machine that used to take four to six months to build now can be done in four weeks, he says.
Gerhart and his three-person sales team are seeking ways to embrace new markets in fiber optic cable. “The copper cable business has been stable but not growing. There are new markets to penetrate,” he says.
With a goal of signing on two to three new licensees each year, Gerhart says REELEX is poised for new growth.
“This is a nice size facility, the location is good, and it would be hard to replicate,” says Gerhart. “At the end of the day, we’re here because of the people. This community offers a workforce grounded in strong values and a work ethic that aligns with who we are and how we operate.” He is also proud of the number of veterans that work at REELEX.
Gerhart says they’re always looking for machinists, engineers and new talent that can join the team.
He also enjoys connections he has made through Westchester business councils and the Putnam Economic Development Corporation.
Those connections have opened opportunities for REELEX employees to advance their professional development. Earlier this year, two MIAP apprentices earned their SACA Gold Certification from Council of Industry. And in 2025, Tom Briggs, head of manufacturing, completed his certificate in manufacturing leadership from Council of Industry’s Manufacturer’s Association of the Hudson Valley.
It also helped facilitate a visit from Congressman Mike Lawler who came for a tour and discussed U.S. manufacturing in New York.
Hudson Valley IV
From ICU to IV: Dr. Geeta Arora Brings Wellness to Putnam County
When Dr. Geeta Arora opened Hudson Valley IV in June 2025, she set out to introduce premium wellness care to Putnam County.
Located in Cold Spring and led by a licensed physician, the clinic ofers personalized IV vitamin therapy, combining clinical rigor with community wellness.
“I decided to start Hudson Valley IV because I had a concierge integrative medicine practice for several years,” Dr. Arora explained. “Now I’ve curated high-quality vitamins and can deliver them at scale by a great group of registered nurses. It’s a fun way to combine my expertise in integrative medicine with my geekiness around wellness.”
Before turning to wellness, Dr. Arora spent more than a decade working in intensive care medicine — including opening an ICU in Harlem during the height of COVID-19.
“In intensive care, it’s very life or death,” she said. “I wanted to move from helping people survive to helping them thrive.”
Her work providing medical relief in Haiti and experience treating patients in critical moments inspired her to focus on helping people stay well before illness strikes.
Hudson Valley IV specializes in IV vitamin infusions that are fully absorbed to replenish the body’s nutrients. “Most vitamins taken orally are only 10 to 30% absorbed; IV vitamins are 100%,” said Dr. Arora.
Each session includes a brief medical intake and safety review, which is a rare level of oversight in the wellness industry. Her clients often include individuals seeking hydration or immune support, as well as local companies hosting off-site events or retreats.
Dr. Arora also runs Cold Spring MD, her integrative medicine practice nearby. Her reputation for thoughtful and transparent care has helped Hudson Valley IV grow quickly through word-of-mouth and local media coverage.
“I always wanted to be a small town doctor,” she said. “It’s just so sweet to be able to go into someone’s home and say, we’re going to take care of you here.
Looking ahead, Dr. Arora hopes to expand partnerships with other local wellness providers such as yoga studios and chiropractors, to create a network of accessible and trustworthy health services throughout Putnam County.
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