Without state aid, kosher food pantries strained by coronavirus may close their doors
Food pantries are in dire need of additional funds to face increased demand from struggling New Yorkers. Image by istock
By Irene Katz Connelly March 30, 2020
With resources strained by the COVID-19 crisis, almost a third of New York City’s food pantries have shut their doors, and more are expected to close if the state does not provide emergency funding, said leaders at the Met Council on Jewish Poverty and City Harvest, a food rescue organization that partners with many kosher food pantries.
“69 of the community food programs City Harvest serves have already closed and even more are in danger of closing,” said Jilly Stephens, CEO of City Harvest.
With unemployment skyrocketing as a result of the coronavirus crisis, food pantries expect to see higher levels of food insecurity among struggling New Yorkers. But many are currently unable to meet those needs. Because of panic buying and high demand for groceries, prices of food staples such as chicken, eggs, and meat have increased. Wholesalers and supermarkets are outbidding cash-strapped food pantries on crucial supplies.
With the state budget due on April 1, food pantries are calling for emergency funding from both city and state government. New York City Council Speaker Corey Johnson asked the city to commit $25 million to the food pantry system and called on lawmakers in Albany to match that amount. Food pantry leaders say that an injection of funding is necessary to keep the city’s food pantries afloat.
“We could be only days away from the collapse of the food pantry system,” said David Greenfield, CEO of the Met Council. “The blunt truth is many may not last the week without help.”
Irene Connelly is an editorial fellow at the Forward. You can contact her at [email protected].
It’s our birthday and we’re still celebrating!
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news.
This week we celebrate 129 years of the Forward. We’re proud of our origins as a Yiddish print publication serving Jewish immigrants. And we’re just as proud of what we’ve become today: A trusted source of Jewish news and opinion, available digitally to anyone in the world without paywalls or subscriptions.
We’ve helped five generations of American Jews make sense of the news and the world around them — and we aren’t slowing down any time soon.
As a nonprofit newsroom, reader donations make it possible for us to do this work. Support independent, agenda-free Jewish journalism and our board will match your gift in honor of our birthday!
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
