Over One Million In New York Turn To Food Banks

More than 1 million New Yorkers have turned to food banks amid worsening pandemic lockdowns

Divina Ramirez 

With the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic lockdowns being used to crush the economy, hunger has driven tens of thousands of New Yorkers to line up outside food banks and soup kitchens. In a recent report, the New York Times said that the number of people facing hunger in New York City (NYC) could be upwards of 1.5 million.

Food banks are no strangers to the occasional spike in demand following natural disasters. But the COVID-19 pandemic has caused record-high increases in demand for the services of soup kitchens and emergency food distributors, with thousands lining up outside these establishments for the first time.

“We have done disasters before, but nothing is even close to what we are doing now,” said Alexander Rapaport, the executive director of Masbia, a network of soup kitchens in NYC that has been operating for over a decade.

There is so much need, said Rapaport, that all three locations of Masbia in NYC are now open 24/7, feeding at least 1,500 families every day. Unfortunately, Rapaport fears that these efforts are still not enough to calm the rumbling stomachs of thousands of New Yorkers.

The pandemic has closed down thousands of businesses and put millions of workers out of jobs. Since the U.S. declared the pandemic in March, food banks nationwide have been catering to bigger crowds and distributing provisions down longer lines.

For instance, Rapaport said that Masbia saw a 500 percent increase in demand over the past few months. To answer that demand and prevent people from standing in long lines for hours, Rapaport created an entirely new system that required people to make an appointment before visiting the branch to pick up provisions. He added that the new “digital lines” would also allow people who are embarrassed to line up to do so.

On the other hand, City Harvest, one of New York’s largest emergency food distributors, reported nearly seven million visits to the pantries in its network from March through August, a more than 20 percent increase from 2019. City Harvest has also provided more than 67 million pounds of free and nutritious foods since March, an 89 percent increase from 2019.

“We’re not okay. No one is ready. No one is okay. Everyone is struggling,” Jocelyne Rojas of BronxWorks Food Pantry told CBS New York. “What I make is not enough for me to feed myself, try to feed my mother, maintain an apartment. You still have your phone bill.”