This article originally appeared in the Queens Chronicle and was authored by Katherine Donlevy.
As a result of the economic strain caused by the COVID-19 outbreak, more than 32 percent of New York City’s food pantries have closed down. As unemployment jumps and is expected to do so for an indefinite number of coming weeks, the pantry system is calling for the city and state governments to commit $50 million in emergency aid to make sure New Yorkers don’t go hungry.
“We definitely expect this to continue,” Jilly Stephens told the Chronicle. The CEO of City Harvest, the city’s largest food rescue organization, said that as of March 31, 71 food pantries in the city had closed their doors, a number she says will only continue to rise.
“They’re struggling for all sorts of reasons,” said Stephens. “They’re having a hard time buying the food they need … the increase in patron numbers is going up.”
Stephens raised concerns that as pantries close, users will have to travel farther outside their community to find adequate supplies, which would put tremendous stress on remaining pantries as well as violate stay-at-home mandates.
“Most of the people that we’re serving don’t have anything anyway, not just now,” said Stephens, who stated that city food pantries were servicing tens of thousands of struggling individuals before the outbreak, numbers that will continue to rise. “This community doesn’t have the ability to [wait]. It’s a dire situation.”
City Harvest, along with Met Council, the city’s largest Jewish charity, are rallying for the City Council to commit $25 million from its budget, as well as $25 million from the federal government, toward keeping city food pantries open. The funds would go toward buying groceries, the prices of which have spiked during the pandemic due to their high demand, as well as delivering them to vulnerable New Yorkers who cannot risk leaving their homes in search of a meal.
“We could be only days away from the collapse of the food pantry system,” Chief Executive Officer of Met Council New York City David Greenfield said in a prepared statement. “Food pantries are in dire need and we need help now or else tens of thousands of our most vulnerable New Yorkers won’t have access to food. Almost a third of New York City food pantries are already closed and the blunt truth is many may not last the week without help. We need Albany to act to save the system.”
Greenfield and Stephens are calling on community members to reach out to local state and federal legislators and City Council members and urge them to pass the funding on behalf of those in need.
“We’re working 24/7 and we’re seeing some very generous support from people around the country, but we need the government to step in,” said Stephens. “This is a fantastic city filled with creativity and resilience … We need to come together and get this city fed.”
The Department of Education is providing three free meals to students every day, and one can obtain the meal from any public school, not just the facility he or she attends. Additionally, the city emergency food assistance hotline is available for any individual searching for the nearest food pantry or kitchen at 1 (866) 888-8777 or at 311.