The number is shocking. According to the aid organization City Harvest, of the 8.3 million New Yorkers, more than 1.5 million do not have enough money to buy enough groceries – that roughly corresponds to the population of the Canton of Zurich. Every fifth child is affected in the metropolis on the American east coast.
One reason is the coronavirus pandemic. City Harvest says the number of people dependent on food aid has increased 38% since the pandemic began. The reason is clear. With Broadway, Madison Square Garden and various other sights, New York City is a tourist magnet. Millions of people live on it in the hotel, hospitality and art industries. Because of economic restrictions, many have lost their poorly paid jobs in the service industry.
You now lack an income. Unsurprisingly, New York City’s 14% unemployment rate is one of the highest in the country. This is an understatement, however, because the number only includes those people who have a residence permit and were legally employed before the pandemic. For many hospitality workers, this is not the case. Often times they are illegal in the country and paid under the table. The safety net, which aims to put a stop to hunger with financial support, is correspondingly full of holes.
After all, the problem is known. Since the pandemic began, all New Yorkers have been able to pick up three meals in over two hundred locations Monday through Friday. For example at the John Jay Educational Campus on 7th Avenue in Brooklyn. Packed lunches are ready to be picked up at the back entrance. They consist of a sandwich, an apple and a bag of milk. There is not much going on this Thursday afternoon. But the impression is deceptive, as the school employee explains, who does not want to read her name in the newspaper. “Several hundred people use what the city has to offer every day.” Even in the largely affluent Park Slope district, there is clearly a need for state support.
This is also confirmed on Sixth Street, only a few blocks away from the historic Old Stone House. Next to the entrance to the “Postmark Cafe” is a brightly painted refrigerator. It is filled with vegetables and fruits. In the rack next to it, there are canned vegetables, two packs of “Macaroni & Cheese”, bread and other snacks. It was set up by TheGowanusFridge, a neighborhood organization that helps people in need. Anyone who needs it can take away food. It is filled by volunteers. Once a week there is also groceries from the nearby Whole Foods branch.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, dozens of these fridges, organized by neighborhood groups, have popped up across the city. They shouldn’t go away that quickly. This is made clear by the Camp Friendship Food Pantry, also in Park Slope.
In a gym near the library, volunteers prepare hundreds of food packages every Saturday. In addition, the group delivers groceries free of charge twice a week to seniors who are restricted in their mobility. The food pantry was launched in summer. The trigger was the coronavirus pandemic, as was the case with the neighborhood fridges and the expanded lunch program in public schools.
These offers make it clear how acute the problem is. But even after the crisis, not all New York food will be able to afford it. This is shown by the City Harvest Food Banks, which runs most of these establishments. From March to August they numbered almost 12 million people. The year before, however, there were already nine million.
Image: Martin Lüscher
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