As I mentioned in my last letter here (A Year in Recession, Jan 15), 2009 was a hard year for the Food Bank For New York City and the New Yorkers we serve. While we anticipate that economic hardship will continue in 2010, as we look back at this past fall and early winter — our busiest time of year — all of us at the Food Bank are deeply inspired by how our supporters came together in these difficult times.
Our inspiration comes from the outpouring of support for the Food Bank’s 2009 NYC Goes Orange campaign, with more than 300 partners raising food, funds and public awareness for New Yorkers who struggle to get by. The season also saw the launch of the Adopt a Food Program initiative — a partnership between the Food Bank and Mayor Bloomberg’s NYC Service that will dramatically increase volunteer support across our food assistance network.
Also, we launched the 2009–2010 CookShop school year. These unique Food Bank programs bring nutrition education to elementary and high school students as well as adults, inspiring enthusiasm for healthy, affordable foods. [PLUS: Witness our health and nutrition education efforts first-hand in our CookShop video.] And the Food Bank’s 18th Annual Agency Conference brought together hundreds from the hunger relief community, along with elected officials to strategize and build strength for the coming year.
With 3.3 million New Yorkers currently experiencing difficulty affording the food they need, it is essential that we continue this momentum together. President Barack Obama has set a goal to end childhood hunger in America by 2015. We’re now five years from that target, and I invite you to invest in our future by helping us end food poverty.
Working on the Adopt a Food Program initiative, a partnership between the Food Bank For New York City and NYC Service, I have had significant contact with many of the food assistance programs in our citywide network. This is a diverse group of people serving a wide variety of needs, but I have noticed one constant: in the difficult economic times we are currently going through, food programs are struggling with a rising demand for their services.
Food pantries and soup kitchens are seeing an influx of working poor: people who work part-time, full-time and often multiple jobs, but still need a little extra help to feed themselves and their families. At the same time, available funding is decreasing as individual and institutional funders are coping with diminishing resources — leading many food programs to cut back on services.
This all might sound rather alarming, but there is hope. In a time of great need, volunteers have the opportunity to make a truly lasting impact. Working with many of these programs, I have seen firsthand how volunteers are providing organizations with the support they need not only to maintain, but to improve services. Volunteers from Adopt a Food Program also bring skills and ideas from their own life, such as grantwriting or marketing, that can contribute a fresh perspective to their adopted food program, enhancing collaboration and innovation.
In the past, I have seen so much accomplished by people working only for the knowledge that they are contributing to something much bigger than themselves. I love the enthusiasm and dedication volunteers bring to their work. So far I have seen that passion in the many groups and individuals involved with Adopt a Food Program, and I am excited to see the results of their hard work.
The New York Budget pas de deux is in full swing — and both Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Governor David Paterson are dangerously close to trampling on New York City’s most vulnerable.
The governor’s proposal also called for a $1.3 billion drop in overall state funding for New York City. In response, last week Mayor Bloomberg unveiled a preliminary budget that outlined steps the city could take if the governor’s plan succeeds — a list that includes eliminating New York’s Emergency Food Assistance Program (EFAP), which provides millions of dollars in funding to about 500 local soup kitchens and food pantries each year.
“[It’s] just a possibility, but in the aggregate it has to be something like this,” the mayor said.
President Obama seems to recognize the need to provide for America’s most vulnerable. Despite his call to cap federal discretionary funding, the budget released by the president this week calls for an investment in Child Nutrition programs, and preserves funding for emergency food assistance.
Even with this federal aid, significant cuts to food assistance at the state and local level would be devastating to those who depend on these funds to eat.
“You have my commitment that we won’t let the quality of life decline now,” Mayor Bloomberg said in his budget address, calling on New York to “do more with less.”
But those who turn to soup kitchens and food pantries are already struggling to do more with less. They are falling behind on rent. They aren’t filling needed prescriptions. The food pantry and soup kitchen are often their last resort.
It’s bad enough that families are sacrificing basic needs to balance their budgets. New York City and State should not follow them down that desperate, dangerous road.
In his State of the Union address last week, President Obama’s call to freeze federal discretionary spending raised alarms about the future of discretionary nutrition assistance programs, including certain components of The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP). But the budget he released on Monday demonstrates his administration’s commitment to keeping food on the tables of America’s most vulnerable.
White House Photo, Pete Souza, 1/27/10
According to an analysis by the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC), the president’s budget would preserve $246.5 million for commodity purchases under TEFAP, as well as another $50 million for transportation and distribution costs.
The president has said he wants to end child hunger by 2015. The expansions he has proposed, particularly for child nutrition, are a promising step — especially in a budget that includes cuts — but achieving this goal will require far more.
Food Bank For New York City applauds President Obama for protecting these vital programs during a national fiscal crisis. It’s a good starting point for a strong Child Nutrition Reauthorization that includes Universal School Meals. And it sends the clear message that feeding people in need is especially important during hard times – a message we hope state and city leaders also hear and take to heart.
Comparing America to a “cash-strapped family,” President Obama announced a tightening of the federal money belt in his State of the Union Address this week.
“We will work within a budget to invest in what we need and sacrifice what we don’t,” he said. “Starting in 2011, we are prepared to freeze government spending for three years.”
Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security won’t be affected, the president said — but all discretionary government programs could find their way to the chopping block. And if The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) is among the programs that land there, New York’s cash-strapped families will suffer.
Last year, TEFAP helped protect millions of struggling American families from hunger, distributing about $250 million in food to emergency food providers.
In New York City, 40 percent of families reported difficulty affording food last year. TEFAP — which received a major boost from the stimulus bill — was a key reason that figure was lower than the year before (48 percent).
Even with this temporarily increased help from TEFAP, more than half of our city’s food pantries and soup kitchens have reported running out of food or having to turn people away in recent years, unable to keep up with the dramatically increased demand.
Without TEFAP and other federal nutrition programs, even more families could face closed doors.
To be sure, the president’s speech wasn’t all doom and gloom for families in need.
His commitment to double the child care tax credit and to expand the tax credit for “those who start a nest egg” could free up families to spend more precious resources on food. The Food Bank’s Tax Assistance Program, which already helps thousands of New York City’s working poor access critical tax credits, will help many others achieve greater financial stability.
Low-income families could also achieve greater financial empowerment — the key to ending food poverty — through the president’s efforts to reduce the high cost of health care. In addition, First Lady Michelle Obama’s choice to spearhead the fight against childhood obesity could improve the health — and reduce health care costs — for millions of low-income children.
Although the president has said he hopes to end child hunger by 2015, that goal will never be reached without protecting critical food and nutrition programs. Tough choices lie ahead, but if we are to protect our country’s children and their struggling families, cutting these programs cannot be among them.
Last year the Obama administration made promising gestures toward improving child nutrition in America, including a proposal to add $1 billion to child nutrition programs.
But will these leanings lead to action? Tonight’s State of Union Address could offer a grim clue.
President Obama is expected to call for a three-year freeze on domestic programs. And with the Child Nutrition Act now up for reauthorization in Congress, some fear that the freeze could mean arresting the growth of critical programs feeding America’s hungriest children -- right when they are needed most.
With the economic crisis ongoing, families in New York and across the country are still reeling from lost jobs and slashed salaries, making nutritious food hard to afford.
The NYC Hunger Experience 2009 report, recently released by the Food Bank For New York City, found that almost half (47 percent) of households with children in New York City experienced difficulty buying needed food for themselves and their families last year.
A Child Nutrition Reauthorization that provides for Universal School Meals would ensure these children can count on at least one nutritious meal per day.
“Will a program created to 'promote the health and well-being of the nation's children' survive the freeze?” wrote Debra Eschmeyer, Food and Society Fellow at the Institute for Agriculture and Trade, in today’sHuffington Post. “Probably not, unless we, the voting public, find our voice and let our elected officials know that child nutrition in general -- and the National School Lunch Program in particular -- is a priority.”
What would you say to President Obama to convince him not to freeze funds for child nutrition programs? Share your thoughts!
The world is hectic and there is so much going on. Today, the world is still reeling with the massive devastation from the earthquake in Haiti. Here in the U.S., families are worried about the status of their loved ones who are there. New York has a strong Haitian population, and many New Yorkers are taking the need for awareness onto themselves — providing support through Facebook, Twitter and other social networks. Celebrities from Ashton Kutcher to Wyclef Jean are asking us to take action and donate supplies, money and resources.
Of the many tragedies of this situation, one is that it takes a natural disaster to wake so many people up to the world outside our windows. It is wonderful that we can respond, and I hope that we can make a meaningful difference. But the one glimmer of hope that comes to me from this situation is that now people can see what we are able to do in the most difficult of circumstances. My hope is that people will understand that we have the power and resources to help on a continuous basis.
American Red Cross in Greater New York CEO Terry Bischoff watches as Food Bank President and CEO Lucy Cabrera signs a 2009 Memorandum of Understanding, providing a framework for cooperation between the two organizations for food, water, personnel, equipment and/or information in support of disaster relief operations
Food Bank For New York City certainly understands this, and the Food Bank partners with the American Red Cross of Greater New York to help prepare for and respond collaboratively to natural disasters. There are many reputable organizations, like the American Red Cross, that provide ongoing support to those who are suffering from devastation — short- or long-term. The earthquake in Haiti can serve as a wake-up call to get up, get out and do something to help those that are less fortunate.
Because, as Haiti has shown, ignoring poverty inevitably leads to greater disaster — as the Food Bank’s Volunteer Services Manager, I am asking you to make action part of your day-to-day life. The mini samples that you take from the hotel, put those in baggies and send them to a woman’s shelter; the not-so-pretty sweater that grandma gave, take it to the local mission and provide warmth to a homeless person; those chick peas that you swore you were going to make hummus with, take them your local pantry and let them pass them along to someone who needs a meal.
The more conscious we are every day, the less suffering there will be when disaster does hit. What matters most is not how you respond, but that you do respond.
On a recent Saturday morning, the line at the River Fund in Richmond Hill, Queens, stretched around the block, while Fay, a social worker, moved down the line, answering questions and checking in on regular clients. The River Fund is a Food Bank member and, like most of the programs in our network, they have seen their number of clients soar. Fay has been seeing more visitors than ever, and some are seeking for help for the first time. “We’re seeing a very different sector,” she noted, “people who are recently unemployed, who just lost their jobs, or are even working and can’t make ends meet.”
A River Fund client with a pantry bag
Upstairs in the house, Wilfredo Morales was helping to connect pantry clients with much-needed food stamps, Medicaid, unemployment and other services. In the garage that houses the River Fund’s choice-style food pantry, a volunteer welcomed clients with warmth, listing the foods available for selection. “We’ve got corn, beans, spinach, yams — we’ve got mango juice,” she announced as people stepped forward.
The River Fund encourages membership and offers services beyond food distribution. One client, a social worker who supports four children and her sister and mother, had just picked up a bag of produce and canned goods, as well as some new clothing, a special offering that day. The River Fund has also helped her with toys and Christmas presents for the kids.
Back in the line, Uma Corveddu was greeting clients, hugging their children and handing out treats. Later that morning, she would travel down to Coney Island, where the River Fund’s “Under the Boardwalk” program distributes prepared foods to homeless clients. Uma reiterated the increased need and long pantry lines the River Fund has seen: “It has been amazing — we’re talking double.”
Originally featured in Food For Thought Fall 2009, the Food Bank’s print newsletter.
As the Food Bank launched the CookShop Program’s 16th year this past fall, I was struck by how much the program has grown since a small team of dedicated staff at the Community Food Resource Center (CFRC), myself included, held the program’s first launch.
CFRC – which changed its name to FoodChange a few years before merging with the Food Bank – began a pilot program in 1994 under a United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) competitive grants program that was looking for innovative ways to improve the nutritional intake of low-income populations. Initially called the Central Harlem Collaborative Nutrition Education Program, CookShop was one of only a handful of programs in the country that was funded through these grants.
The goal of the initial program was to increase schoolchildren’s consumption of nutritious food and to reach parents and others in the Central Harlem community through cooking workshops held at community organizations and housing projects. CFRC developed elementary-school curricula and teacher-training materials that focused on hands-on, food and nutrition activities for the classroom. After just one year in a few Central Harlem schools, it was clear to CFRC that the program had incredible potential to promote healthy eating in New York City’s low-income neighborhoods – areas that often suffer from a high incidence of diet-related diseases such as diabetes, obesity and hypertension.
As readers of this blog know, our elementary-school and adult programs are now known respectively as CookShop Classroom and CookShop for Adults. Additionally, CookShop has now expanded to include EATWISE, our CookShop Program for Teens.
And the biggest accomplishment? Altogether, the Food Bank’s CookShop Programs are expected to reach more than 14,000 children, teens and adults throughout the five boroughs this school year.
Longtime child nutrition advocate Agnes Molnar was Director of the Child Nutrition Unit at Community Food Resource Center (CFRC; later FoodChange) from 1981 to 2003, where her advocacy was instrumental in convincing the city to implement the first pilot Universal School Lunch program (using USDA’s Provision 2), to provide free school breakfasts to all public school students, and to expand the Summer Food Service Program to include city parks, swimming pools and public housing developments. Agnes designed and received USDA funding to implement the model nutrition education program for food stamp-eligible populations that evolved into CookShop. As co-founder of Community Food Advocates, Agnes is now working on a campaign to make school meals free to all New York City public school students.
Posted At: January 15, 2010 9:53 AM | Posted By: Food Bank
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Letter from Lucy
Dear Friends,
The past year presented many challenges for the Food Bank For New York City. Unemployment reached a 26-year high. And 93 percent of our member soup kitchens and food pantries saw an increase in first-time visitors, as reported in our latest research report, NYC Hunger Experience 2009.
While the country’s response to the recession appears to have had a real impact on hunger, most of the government increases in support were designed as temporary measures — and will soon end.
Over 2009, the Food Bank brought hunger awareness into new arenas. Social marketing campaigns encouraged healthy eating and Food Stamp enrollment, while online efforts — the launch of Bank on It, the blog you're reading right now; our Twitter presence; and a YouTube channel — spread the word to new online communities and give you the opportunity to spread the word to your communities by passing along out blog posts, tweets and videos.
Our inspiration comes from the outpouring of support for the Food Bank’s 2009 NYC Goes Orange campaign, with more than 300 partners raising food, funds and public awareness for New Yorkers who struggle to get by. The season also saw the launch of the Adopt a Food Program initiative — a partnership between the Food Bank and Mayor Bloomberg’s NYC Service that will dramatically increase volunteer support across our food assistance network.
The governor’s proposal also called for a $1.3 billion drop in overall state funding for New York City. In response, last week Mayor Bloomberg unveiled a 
Comparing America to a “cash-strapped family,” President Obama announced a tightening of the federal money belt in his 
