By QJL Staff

The Met Council on Jewish Poverty hosted, for the first time since the pandemic, their annual Legislative Breakfast ahead of the Celebrate Israel Parade. The breakfast highlighted Met Council’s “Hate Has No Home Here” initiative, which was launched in 2021 to combat the proliferation of hate crimes in New York City. The event was emceed by CNN’s Sonia Moghe. Met Council runs America’s largest kosher food bank. During the pandemic, they distributed over 40.1 million pounds of food to over 210 organizations across New York, including 20 Halal food pantries.

“After almost three years, it was exciting to get everyone together again for the Met Council Legislative Breakfast before the Celebrate Israel Parade,” said Met Council CEO David Greenfield. “We are so thankful for the many leaders who attended, and for Governor Hochul and Attorney General James’ impassioned remarks about fighting anti-Semitism at a time when it is rising in New York and around the world.”

The Legislative Breakfast featured numerous elected officials and honored Congresswoman Grace Meng, Director of State Operations Kathryn Garcia, Deputy Mayor for Strategic Initiatives Sheena Wright, New York State Senator Toby Ann Stavisky, New York State Senator Jamaal T. Bailey, New York State Assemblymember Michael Cusick, New York State Assemblymember Simcha Eichenstein, New York City Council Member Justin Brannan, New York City Council Member Eric Dinowitz, New York City Council Member Diana Ayala, and New York City Council Member Mercedes Narcisse.

In 2021, with support from the City, Met Council launched Hate Has No Home Here to combat the proliferation of hate crimes and food insecurity that coincided with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The goal of the campaign is to build solidarity between like-minded organizations throughout the City that are also working on anti-poverty issues and whose clients are from communities that have experienced a rise in hate crimes through educational events and food distributions.