BRONX, N.Y. — Hunts Point Distribution Market doesn’t sleep. Before sunrise, trucks begin rolling in. Forklifts hum, pallets move from dock to dock, and at the center of it all sits Food Bank For New York City’s distribution center — the engine that helps keep food moving across a city that never stops needing to eat.
During National Intern Week, that center became a classroom.
Food Bank For NYC welcomed interns from six companies into that heartbeat—not just to volunteer, but to experience firsthand what leadership in the fight against hunger looks like.
One week. One job: show up, roll up your sleeves, and help move food to the New Yorkers who need it most.
This week’s crew — DLA, LLC, DWS, Skadden, Major Food Group, Link Logistics, and Paul, Weiss — traded their desks for the warehouse floor, working alongside Food Bank For NYC staff to keep food moving across the city. No spreadsheets, no conference rooms — just pallets, boxes, and product that needed to get from the warehouse to all five boroughs.
By the end of the week, 113 interns had sorted and repacked 36,817 pounds of fresh produce, retail products and shelf-stable goods headed straight to New Yorkers across the city.
“I didn’t think about how massive it was,” said Sebastian Pina, an intern. “Thinking about the scale of it all, and just actually physically being here, makes a really huge difference.”
That’s the moment it clicks. Hunger stops being a headline and starts being a warehouse full of work that has to get done today — not someday.
The floor ran loud as teams sorted food case by case, checked every item for quality and packed it tight for the road.
“One word to describe today: spectacular,” said Kamar Williams, an intern. “Just in terms of the energy, the group of people we were with. The interns, everyone helping, making sure things went smoothly. It was perfect. It was a great day.”
Real talk from people who’ve done the work
The classroom extended beyond the warehouse floor. Throughout the week, interns learned lessons that couldn’t be found in a textbook—from leaders who have dedicated their careers to helping feed New Yorkers.
First came a conversation about purpose. President and Chief Executive Officer Leslie Gordon shared how she found her way to this work and what it will take to end hunger in New York City. Then Tiffany Bermudez, Director of Talent Development, showed interns how to build a career of their own that counts.
“It was a wonderful session exploring the interns’ values and how those values shape their career paths,” Bermudez said. “They had a thoughtful, honest discussion about who they wanted to become and how to keep growing toward that goal.”
Then the conversation turned to policy. Elvis Santana, Manager of Advocacy and Community Outreach broke down what the recent SNAP changes mean for New Yorkers already stretched thin, and how Food Bank For NYC is fighting back: in Albany, Washington D.C., and block by block across the city.
Junior Board member Stephanie Tramutola left interns with one final reminder: everyone has a role to play.
“There’s always something to do, and more than one way to help,” said Tramutola. “Food Bank For NYC makes it easy — they have advocacy, volunteering, different community service opportunities, so you can find what you like.”
By the end of the week, the interns didn’t need convincing. They’d already found their way in, one box and one pallet at a time.
To every intern who put in the work: thank you. That food didn’t stop at the loading dock. It rode out on trucks to all five boroughs, landed on shelves at member agencies, and made it into homes across this city — because a hundred people decided a warehouse in the Bronx was worth a week of their time. Multiply that by every company willing to do the same, and hunger in New York City doesn’t stand a chance.
