Just before Thanksgiving, you heard from Cassandra Agredo, Director of Food Bank network member Xavier Mission, on Bank on It about the whirlwind of activity leading up to Thanksgiving day.

The Food Bank invited Cassandra back to let us know how the big day went. We hope you will join us in thanking Cassandra and Xavier Mission for the amazing work they do on the front lines of hunger relief — leave a note in the comments!
—Daniel Buckley

Thanksgiving at Xavier Mission is my favorite time of the year. It’s when the best of humanity is revealed, when the boundaries that divide us seem to disappear for awhile.

A new Yorker enjoys a warm meal at a Food Bank network soup kitchen

What humbles me the most about the holiday is the gratitude I experience from so many people. It begins when our food pantry guests arrive to pick up their Thanksgiving food baskets. Many of them hug me, clasp my hands and bless me and my family. Some are so overwhelmed by the food they are receiving and the ability to provide their families with a home-cooked holiday meal that they become tearful in their thanks.

One amazing moment happened when an elderly guest greeted one of my volunteers with effusions of gratitude and kept telling the volunteer how much she wished she could do something for him. All she had with her was a piece of gum and she pressed it into his hand, eager to show her thanks and return the kindness.

The gratitude continued to flow on Thanksgiving day, when a gentleman joining us for dinner at our community meal program slipped a napkin into my pocket. “Oh this rainbow coalition would fit into any exhibit of New York!” the napkin exclaimed. “Thanksgiving [at Xavier] was truly lovely and the greatest of performances!”

Gratitude emanated from our volunteers as well. One 78-year-old woman had been signed up to receive a homebound meal. She called several days before the holiday to decline the delivery and requested instead that she be allowed to volunteer. She sat at the door and welcomed each guest into the hall with a smile, then thanked me over and over at the end of the day for allowing her to be a part of the festivities.

After being awash in the thanks and gratitude of so many this Thanksgiving, I find myself to be the most grateful of all. I’m grateful for the many blessings in my life, for the opportunity to work in a fulfilling job, and for the amazing people I meet every day — guests, volunteers, colleagues, advocates — who teach me so much about life, about justice and about love. 

Last week, the Food Bank For New York City conducted its Thanksgiving food distribution. Over three days, more than 150 members of our citywide food assistance network made the trip to our Bronx warehouse to pick up over 10,000 turkeys and chicken roasters as well as thousands of pounds of potatoes, carrots, onions and apples. This food is will provide nutritious Thanksgiving meals for New Yorkers who, without our network, would have to face a very real possibility of going without a holiday meal.

On Wednesday, I took the trip to the Bronx myself to help out. I also took the opportunity to talk with a few of our network members about what it’s like on the front lines of hunger relief over the holidays. Here is what Cassandra Agredo, Director of Xavier Mission at Chelsea’s Church of St. Francis Xavier, had to say.
-Daniel Buckley

Cassandra Agredo, Director of Food Bank network member Xavier Mission, at our Bronx warehouse to pick up food for Thanksgiving services

There is definitely a special need around the holidays. Our guests struggle all year round. Many rely on food stamps and multiple food assistance programs to keep food on the table. But when you have the added expenses of the holiday – you know, a turkey is expensive – people need a bit more help.

With so many people facing hard times, especially since the recession began, we do everything we can to make sure everyone in our neighborhood is able to enjoy a Thanksgiving meal.

In the past two and a half years, the number of people coming to us for food assistance has increased drastically. Attendance at our soup kitchen rose a full 33 percent. We are seeing people who’ve lost their jobs, a lot of whom are coming to us for the first time. By the time they ask for help, many are at the end of their savings and don’t really know what they’re doing at a food pantry. Some have applied for food stamps, but that often won’t take them through the month.

Thanksgiving is our biggest event of the year. At our soup kitchen, we prepare and serve about 200 Thanksgiving meals to seniors and disabled individuals in the community. We partner with Beth Israel Medical Center and a health care organization called Isabella to locate and provide meals to about 300 homebound individuals around Manhattan on Thanksgiving Day.

We also pack Thanksgiving baskets for the families that rely on our food pantry. Each basket includes a ten-pound turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, fruit, vegetables, pudding, cake mix – basically everything you need for a happy Thanksgiving! Our baskets provide meals for 450 to 500 family members, so at the end of Thanksgiving day we help provide holiday meals for up to 1,000 people.

 Making that happen definitely is not an easy task, but it makes me feel like I’m part of something much bigger than myself. We just try to give people whatever they need to make it a special day.

Your support helps the Food Bank serve programs like Xavier MIssion throughout the five boroughs. Thank you!

By Rebecca Segall,

After spending my summer as an intern at the Food Bank For New York City, I now know almost every statistic there is about food poverty in the city. But to understand what — beyond the numbers — that poverty truly means, I tried to put myself in the shoes of those relying on food assistance. While I did my best to be empathetic, I had a difficult time imagining such a humbling experience.

Photo by Susan Falzone

I’ve been vegetarian for years, and though it isn’t essential to my survival, it is a big part of living the way I want to. But in a position of need, I felt I wouldn’t be able to refuse any available food, especially food rich in protein. I decided that in my hypothetical life of food poverty, vegetarianism would be a necessary sacrifice.

That is, until I met Susan. On a trip to conduct interviews with people who have been helped by the Food Bank,  I was surprised by how easily I could relate to a woman from Queens’ earnest account of poverty. It wasn’t until Susan mentioned she was vegetarian that I better understood a bit of why I could relate to her so well. After a lifetime of produce and tofu, Susan was not about to give up important parts of herself just because her circumstances had changed. To make this work, she uses her food stamps, which the Food Bank helped her apply for, at farmers’ markets.

Susan not only survives but pushes herself to practice the values important to her, even if they demand a greater struggle. I admired her determination and, thanks to her story, understood the Food Bank’s goal more deeply. It is not just to provide food, but to provide the means to live with dignity.

I will remember Susan, and hope to maintain my own values in the face of obstacles with the grace and perseverance that she displayed.

by Samuel Ching McGrath

With Mother’s Day coming up this Sunday, I have been thinking about a woman I met recently at a Food Bank member program, the Riverside Church Food Pantry in Morningside Heights. I already knew that women and children are two of the groups most at-risk for hunger in our city, but meeting Yolanda really helped me understand the reality of that situation.

Until recently Yolanda had been struggling to support her three sons with a low-wage job and food stamps to help fill in the gaps. She is a single mother, and is able to find help from her sister from time to time. But since Yolanda’s sister has a child of her own and takes care of their mother, there is only so much she is able to help.

When a friend told her about the food pantry at Riverside, it was a great relief. “I didn’t know these types of services were available,” she told me. “And I didn’t expect to get bags of food!” Now, when times are tough, Yolanda is still able to provide her sons with a home-cooked meal, using the groceries she can pick up at the food pantry.

I am always amazed by the strength of the Food Bank’s clients, and single mothers like Yolanda are often among the New Yorkers I am most impressed by. Although Yolanda struggles from month to month to support three young sons, she still has the energy to look for a way to give back to her community. "It's inspirational what the Riverside Church Food Pantry does for me and the local community,” Yolanda said. “This encourages me to want to give somebody else help and reach out whenever I can.”

If you can, we hope that you will consider making a donation to support all of the mothers like Yolanda who struggle to afford food in our city. A great way to do this right now is to make a gift in honor of your mother – sending her one of our new Mother’s Day eCards, including a card with a photo of Yolanda and two of her sons. Thank you!

Samuel Ching McGrath is The Food Bank For New York City's Individual Giving Manager

by John Walsh

In New York you see people waiting in lines for lots of things — book signings, giveaways, ladies’ (but never men’s) rooms, and concerts. And since I started working here at the Food Bank For New York City this past winter, I can now add another reason to line up outside, even in 15 degree weather: hunger. 

Since starting here I have learned plenty — my affinity for the color orange, that members of the Food Bank’s culinary council can ham it up with the best of them — but mostly about the startling realities of hunger in our city. My eyes were first opened to the seriousness of the situation when I read the statistics highlighted in our research materials and on our website. For example, in New York City alone, approximately 3 million people have difficulty affording food for themselves and their families. In the past, when the topic of hunger was mentioned, the images that came to mind were of developing countries like Sudan and Ethiopia. But now I know that hunger looks like my neighbors too.

The experience that really brought home the severity of food poverty in our city was my first visit to the Food Bank’s Community Kitchen & Food Pantry in West Harlem last December. When we arrived I was surprised to see the number of people waiting outside in the freezing cold for food pantry service to start.

It was seeing these dozens of people standing in the freezing cold on an otherwise unremarkable weekday afternoon that truly made the statistic I mentioned above more than a number. Of the New Yorkers I met that day, some were elderly, some were there with their children, many were coming from work, and I would not have been surprised to see any of them at my subway stop or down the hall in my apartment building.

 
 

By Daniel Buckley

This past Sunday was Purim, one of the most important holidays in the Jewish calendar. And one of the most essential elements of this holiday is charity.

A New Yorker at the client-choice pantry at the Food Bank’s Community Kitchen & Food Pantry.

During Purim, you are asked to extend charity to “whoever stretches out his hand.” But as the Food Bank and our citywide network of food assistance programs know well, many people who are in great need have a difficult time “stretching out their hand” to ask for help.

In many low-income neighborhoods, where New Yorkers often work two or even three jobs to make ends meet, there is a great feeling of pride in being able to provide for themselves and their families. A flip side to that coin, however, is that when keeping enough food on the table becomes a struggle, people may feel embarrassed about asking for help.

The need to respect the dignity of their community members has led our network to develop practices that ensure their clients' need for privacy — such as by-appointment-only food programs that allow clients to receive assistance as an individual rather than in a group setting, and programs that have specialized sign-in sheets so that each client does not see the name of the person who last visited.

Other programs have implemented practices that give their clients a positive experience within a more public setting. One of the Food Bank’s favorite types of programs is the client-choice food pantry, which allows New Yorkers to walk through aisles set up like a supermarket to select the specific food items they need.

So, please continue to give charity to those who stretch out their hand for Purim, but also remember all of those in need who do not. And know that your support of the Food Bank helps us reach out to those New Yorkers to provide the help they need, with the respect and dignity that they deserve.

by David McCoy

Who are the people on the front lines of hunger relief? What are their names? How do they persevere? I often ask myself these questions. As soup kitchen and food pantry lines grow longer, and resources smaller, it is amazing to speak to the people who continue to open their doors, turn on their ovens and ensure that those in need have a place to go.  On January 11, 2011 those faces and names can be found on the 6th floor of the Marriott Marquis attending the Food Bank For New York City’s Annual Agency Conference.

Watch City Council Speaker Christine Quinn speak at the 2010 Annual Agency Conference

For nineteen years, the Food Bank has held a conference that brings together New York City’s hunger community for a day of learning, sharing and celebrating those who are, no matter what, there for New York City’s most vulnerable. Even though I have the pleasure of working with this group all year round, the Annual Agency Conference is certainly a special day. Beginning at around 7:30 am hunger leaders and advocates begin pouring in from the cold midtown streets to the Marriott to get better at what we do — help New Yorkers in need. 

While this day is one of learning and professional development, what Food Bank staff like myself enjoy most is the ability to meet those on the front lines, share their stories and say THANK YOU for all that they  do to help our friends and neighbors. Be sure to check back after January 11 to see pictures and video of the Annual Agency Conference and meet the people on the front lines of hunger relief.

 

by David McCoy

A van from a member of the Food Bank’s food assistance network packed to the brim with poultry and fresh produce for Thanksgiving

Members of the Food Bank’s food assistance network

View more photos of the Food Bank’s Thanksgiving distribution

First of all, I want to say happy Thanksgiving to all of our supporters — thank you for helping us bring holiday meals to New Yorkers in need! Thanksgiving is one of my favorite days of the year. And if I had to pick the best day of the year at the Food Bank, it would be the day that I go to our Bronx warehouse to help with the annual Thanksgiving distribution.

On that day I see all the work that the Food Bank does come to fruition right before my eyes. Standing on the docks on a chilly Tuesday morning surrounded by Food Bank staff and volunteers, we wait for agencies to come and receive their free Thanksgiving turkeys, chicken roasters and produce.

As the warehouse buzzes with activity, the calm of the morning lends itself to a rush of activity almost instantly. As cars, trucks and vans from all over the city begin to arrive, the day can begin. Each program backs in to our loading docks and we get to work filling their vehicle with the birds they ordered as well as all the fresh produce the program would like. We push, we shove, we lift, we arrange, we rearrange to ensure that each program that comes to us can get as much as possible for their community.

Hunched over, stacking birds, onions, potatoes, bananas and more into a van, I see how important the work the Food Bank does is. This work is hard and often unrewarded, but as I crawl out of the van, which is now loaded to the brim, I see that the rewards of feeding the hungry are endless. It is the handshake, the smile and the “Happy Thanksgiving” that follows, as well as the knowledge that the food we just packed into that van will end up on the tables of hungry New Yorkers this Thanksgiving. As that van pulls out of the dock, another backs in and I know that Thanksgiving will indeed be happier for New Yorkers in need.

Thank you for making this work possible! With FedEx matching donations, up to a total of $20,000, please consider making a gift today to support the Food Bank’s efforts throughout the rest of the holiday season.

by Caitlin Buckley

Mayor Michael Bloomberg, pictured with Rabbi Shaul Shimon Deutsch and Pe’er Deutsch, pays a visit to Oneg Shabbos

by Samuel Ching McGrath

I recently visited a soup kitchen and food pantry at The Riverside Church in Manhattan’s Morningside Heights. Every time I go to one of the Food Bank’s member programs, I’m touched by the overall friendliness of the clients. It is truly humbling to meet New Yorkers who can be so down on their luck, have so many hardships in their lives, and still maintain such high spirits and genuine optimism for the future.

One of these congenial clients I met was Kimberly, a single mom in her mid-forties who cares for her elderly mother and her eight-year-old daughter. “This is great! This is really good quality stuff! Something you would pick up at the supermarket,” she told me when I asked her how the food was. She was happy to be there and enthusiastic to share her story with me.

It’s amazing Kimberly can maintain such a positive attitude in light of what has happened to her. Last year she injured herself on the job due to a non-compliant patient at the hospital where she works.  Consequently, she needed back surgery which forced her temporarily out of her job on disability. She now receives workers compensation, but it’s barely enough to pay her bills — not to mention buy her medication and feed her family.

Kimberly at the Riverside Church food pantry

In order to “fill the void,” as Kimberly puts it, she applied for food stamps and has been visiting the food pantry for about a month now. “I’m used to working all the time and having everything covered,” she tells me.  “To be stopped right in your tracks makes you feel stagnant, like you’re not accomplishing anything. It makes me feel unworthy…I wish I was at work!” She laughs at herself, but you can tell she’s struggling with the thought of having to rely on services she never expected to use.

“You never think of yourself to be in this kind of position. I’m telling you, it’s a blessing to have this program. It’s inspirational and this works out well!” Kimberly ends the conversation on that note and thanks me for the work the Food Bank provides. And I want to extend that thank you out to all of you! Supporters like you are the reason all of this work possible.

Meet more New Yorkers you have helped by volunteering at one of our network's food assistance programs or by visiting the Food Povertyin NYC section of our website.