Met Council Volunteers packing boxes of Passover food. Image by Courtesy of the Met Council on Jewish Poverty

By Irene Katz Connelly April 8, 2020

Ahead of Passover, the Met Council for Jewish Poverty, a New York-based charity, delivered hundreds of thousands of packages of kosher-for-Passover food to senior citizens and others stuck at home because of coronavirus.

Stacks of produce awaiting delivery. Image by Courtesy of the Met Council for Jewish Poverty

With many afraid or unable to leave the house because of coronavirus, or facing financial instability because of coronavirus-related economic slowdown, the Met Council faced unprecedented levels of need this Passover. In a typical year, said Met Council CEO David Greenfield, the nonprofit serves 180,000 people in the month before the holiday. This year, it has provided assistance to 201,000 people in the New York City area.

Met Council Volunteers loading a vehicle for delivery. Image by Courtesy of the Met Council on Jewish Poverty

The Met Council has delivered Passover staples, including 129,000 bottles of grape juice and 1,150,000 of potatoes, onions and apples. But packages also included Jewish delicacies from borscht, gefilte fish, hearts of palm, and pickles.

Packages of food awaiting delivery. Image by Courtesy of the Met Council on Jewish Poverty

The Met Council runs the country’s largest network of kosher food pantries and is the world’s largest distributor of free kosher-for-Passover food.

Irene Katz Connelly is an editorial fellow at the Forward. You can contact her at [email protected].

Why I became the Forward’s editor-in-chief

You are surely a friend of the Forward if you’re reading this. And so it’s with excitement and awe — of all that the Forward is, was, and will be — that I introduce myself to you as the Forward’s newest editor-in-chief.

And what a time to step into the leadership of this storied Jewish institution! For 129 years, the Forward has shaped and told the American Jewish story. I’m stepping in at an intense time for Jews the world over. We urgently need the Forward’s courageous, unflinching journalism — not only as a source of reliable information, but to provide inspiration, healing and hope.

That’s where you come in. Gifts of any size keep the Forward free and accessible to everyone and ensure we have the resources we need to power the Forward at this critical time for American Jews.

Don't just read the Forward - invest in it. Will you support our work today?

— Alyssa Katz, editor-in-chief

Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

$120 $180 $360 OTHER AMOUNT