[music]

Voice-over: Listener supporting WNYC studios.

[music]

Brian Lehrer: It's Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC. Good morning, everyone. The coronavirus case count in New York City may be waning, but the cruel paradox is that it's largely unemployment keeping the virus at bay. New York's hunger problem shows no real signs of slowing. Some projections show that the economic fallout of the crisis will force nearly 40% more New York City residents and nearly 50% more New York City children to face food insecurity this year. Many volunteer groups and nonprofits have stepped up during what's been a harrowing time.

Soup kitchens and food pantries have seen their number of visitors double. Many first time and historically unusual users. The city itself put $170 million toward an emergency food program, but with the expiration of the pandemic unemployment assistance and no federal aid to states and cities for now, some of which flows to food assistance. Many worry more hunger is coming.

With me now, with the big picture and with advice for where you can get food if you need it. Our leaders have two major nonprofits working to ease hunger in the area. Leslie Gordon CEO and President of the Food Bank for New York City and Jennifer McLean City Harvest Chief Operating Officer. City Harvest is New York's largest food rescue organization. Leslie Gordon, welcome back to WNYC and Jennifer McLean, welcome.

Jennifer McLean: Good morning. Thank you.

Leslie Gordon: Brian, good morning. Thank you so much for having us.

Brian: Before we get into where we are now and what people should do if they actually need to get food and they don't know where to get it, maybe you can just talk about what each of your agencies do. I think still some people might be unfamiliar with the term, food rescue. Jennifer from City Harvest, would you define that?

Jennifer: Sure. Since 1982, City Harvest has been a food rescue organization and what that basically means is picking up food from all segments of the food industry whether it's the Greenmarket at Union Square or a food processor or a farm or supermarket. Picking up food that would otherwise be wasted that's perfect, ready to eat, getting it on our trucks, and getting it back out to people that need it in New York City.

Brian: Leslie, the city has one "food bank" but many food pantries and soup kitchens. Where does the Food Bank for New York City or group which is the umbrella get its food and how does it see it distributed around the city?

Leslie: Sure. Brian, more at the heart of a network of more than 800 on-the-ground partners throughout the five boroughs of New York City. Those are your local food pantries, your community kitchens, your shelters, your senior centers, your colleges, and universities at all. Our trucks crisscross the highways and byways of New York City nearly six days a week. Getting good food into the hands of people who need it with those partners on the ground.

The food comes through several different channels. We're pleased to be able to take in good nutritious food from government sources, both federal and city and state support resources as well as our on-the-ground retail partners or big-box stores who turn over good excess food that would otherwise go to waste.

Brian: Now, Jennifer I've read metrics like City Harvest is delivering almost five million more pounds of food than last year and many food pantries are seeing daily visitors double with a 90% increase of first-time visitors. How does a nonprofit meet a demand an increase like that? Jennifer how about for City Harvest?

Jennifer: Yes, it's a real challenge and actually we're distributing 70% more food. What that means starting this year is actually like 109 million pounds of food, and between Food Bank and City Harvest together, we're going to deliver about 200 million pounds to the city this year. The way you can find extra food is really-- One way we do it is we uncover every stone here in the city. Big distributors early in the pandemic had a lot of extra food that they couldn't get to the supply chain for one reason or another. City Harvest was there picking up a lot of perishable food and getting it back out to folks.

The other way we do it is we work with Feeding America, our national partner for both City Harvest and Food Bank for New York City. They work with national food companies to help get food out to all around the country including New York City. We work with farms that have overproduction. We buy some food. Usually, City Harvest buys hardly not anything, just some turkeys during Thanksgiving to make sure people have Thanksgiving dinner but this year, we are actually spending about $9 million to purchase extra food, shelf-stable grocery product to add to all the perishable produce that we have and get it out to people during the pandemic.

The need is not going down. The places we're working with are seeing where they may be served 200 people are now serving 1000 people. The lines are blocks long. I know everyone has seen those on the television to see those lines of people waiting for food.

Brian: Leslie, the last time we talked which was in April, many food pantries and soup kitchens were temporarily closed due to the city shut down. Many volunteers had stopped coming in even to the ones that were open because they themselves were elderly and at-risk. Have either of those metrics improved at all?

Leslie: We have seen agencies bounce back. Older Americans impressively can be really resilient after having gone through some historic disasters themselves. You may recall when we talked back a few months ago, the proportion of closed Food Assistance Programs on the ground was rather significant. In fact, in the Bronx, we saw upwards of 50% of our normal channels for distribution closed.

We had to reimagine operationally how we were going to continue to be well-positioned to get food into the hands of people who need it, and frankly, in increasing amounts because as we're talking about this morning, the need has really skyrocketed. Between a combination of some agencies bouncing back and strategically positioning ourselves to move more food through those agencies that are open, and frankly, finding new partners on the ground, whether it's Health and Hospitals Corporation, or New York City Housing Authority. We're here for the long haul and committed to keep our warehouse open, our trucks on the road, and good food moving to people.

Now, I think what's really important in part of this conversation, Brian, is that City Harvest and Food Bank for New York City have been serving the city for years. Food insecurity, as we're talking about it today is not a brand new crisis. When we say food insecurity, by the way just to be clear, that means that someone in a household just doesn't have adequate access to food at all times.

Many of our neighbors were already vulnerable and striving to survive each day. It's only just gotten that much worse. We're at a precipice where we might go from crisis to catastrophe potentially because serving the city is not just a private solution like ours at City Harvest and Food Bank working together, it's also a public solution.

Brian: Now, listeners, have you started using food assistance of any kind when you never have before since the start of the pandemic? Hundreds of thousands of people have been laid off. We know in our listening area and that means people who never thought they'd have to go on food assistance are looking for help for the first time. Is that you? What food services are you using? Is it easy, crowded? Call in. Help us report this story and tell other people your experiences or ask a question either of our two guests. Leslie Gordon, President and CEO of the Food Bank For New York City, and Jennifer McLean, Chief Operating Officer for City Harvest. 646-435-7280.

If you've been getting by on unemployment, or enhanced unemployment, or you're worried about your benefits expiring, maybe they have expired and becoming food insecure. How close is that reality and how real is that anxiety? We also want to hear from you if you've been volunteering at food pantries or soup kitchens or delivering meals to the sick or the elderly or the shut-in or doing anything else, that your contribution personally to ease the hunger pains in our area, whatever part of our area you're in.

Call in 646-435-7280. 646-435-7280. What's it been like doing this volunteer work? What are the challenges and what do you want everybody else to know? 646-435-7280. 646-435-7280. I think we have a call in that second category coming in right now. Noah in Brooklyn. You're on WNYC. Hi, Noah.

Noah: Hi, Brian. Thanks for having me on. For the last few months, I've been working to provide groceries and PPE to the Kings County Senior Residents in Flatbush. It's a facility that when we just came in, had been ravaged by the effects of COVID-19. Care workers and residents had no access to PPE. They were starving. Many people died before we even got there. We began the distribution as an offset of a mutual aid network in the area, but they recently lost funding and had a leadership shift shakeup. We had to find money and a new infrastructure for ordering and packing supplies ourselves.

Brian: What's the moral of the story in terms of how it might apply to what other people need other organizations need out there and how they can get it?

Noah: Oh, God. I think people need everything right now. From the mutual aid perspective, I think across the city, people have been running out of money. The donations have started drying up so we need more money. I think people need volunteers. We're in this position where a lot of well-meaning white folks are now leaving for the summer and going out of town, and then there's nobody to distribute. There's nobody to pack. There's nobody to shop. There are some incredible networks out there like Brooklyn Packers in Brownsville who have created an awesome infrastructure for ordering and packing but it's an uphill battle.

Brian: That's another mutual aid group, right?

Noah: Yes.

Brian: Noah, thank you very, very much. John in Allendale, New Jersey. You're on WNYC. Hi, John.

John: Hi, Brian. How are you? Long time listener, first-time caller. During the pandemic recently and I've noticed this before. I walked into an Acme supermarket right after they got their power back on. The shelves naturally, they pulled all the baked goods off. They pulled all the meat products, all the milk products, and they're just throwing them out. One of their staff members said, "Yes, by state law, we have to throw them out." What's being done by good agencies like City Harvest and the Food Bank to resolve laws like that that are ridiculous?

Brian: Jennifer, let me give this to you because this sounds like a job for City Harvest. Do you work outside the five boroughs and places like Allendale?

Jennifer: City Harvest focuses on the five boroughs for our food rescue effort, but I can speak to that. What I do find is a lot of these stores really want to give their food. They don't want to see their food go in the trash. They want to help feed their city. I found I've been City Harvest 20 years now and every food donor I talk to is desperate to make the logistics work of their food donations.

Sometimes what you're saying-- There's the law actually protects food donors. The Good Samaritan law basically says, "As long as the food donor or the supermarket or whoever's donating gives in good faith, that they believe their food is safe and will not hurt anybody, it's ready to go and safe and healthy food, they can donate it in good faith." The Good Samaritan law does protect folks like that and we work really hard to keep-- A lot of people still don't know that. We share that information as often as we can with new businesses that want to work with City Harvest.

Brian: Are there organizations around the area that do what City Harvest does in the five boroughs?

Jennifer: Yes. If you go onto the Feeding America website and just type in your zip code, it'll connect you to one of the 200 food banks around the country and a lot of those folks are doing food rescue in their own community.

Brian: Also though, as a matter of policy, it sounds like you're responding to John's story by saying maybe some companies like that supermarket are being too conservative regarding whether legal liability is. John, maybe you can take that back [chuckles] to your neighborhood food market. There's that. Anyway, they'll have to talk to their lawyers, but hopefully, that thing can be helpful. All right. Let's go to David in Forest Hills, here on WNYC. Hi, David.

David: Hi. How are you? My very good friend took time out of his appellate law practice to volunteer at the Central Queens Y Food Bank over the course of the pandemic. He has described utilization there as rising between a 1000% and 1200% over the pre-pandemic levels, between 70,000 and 100,000 pounds of food are going through the location every single week and upwards of 700 families in Forest Hills alone, which is a very high social-economic status neighborhood where we live. There there's a lot of need that's not going through the supermarkets. That's not going through the food stamp system. I'm personally okay. My family is okay, we're able to meet our food budget, but staring that hunger in the face is very hard and we need to look at it with patience and hard work.

Brian: David, thank you so much. Leslie from the Food Bank, you want to comment on that?

Leslie: Sure. Hi, David. There is a lot to unpack there. The need was stubbornly high in New York City before the pandemic, and it's significantly increased as you've observed out in Queens. Together Food Bank for New York City and City Harvest have ramped up their commitment in terms of the amount of food that we continue to send out into communities. We have teams with subject-matter experts who keep their consistent finger on the pulse of what need looks like across the city so that we can be strategic, and thoughtful, and responsive but do it, of course, with an eye towards food safety while we're doing it.

If you ever see something out in the field and you have questions, don't hesitate to give us a call at Food Bank For New York City, and of course, I don't want to speak for my good friend Jen McLean, but I'm certain that they'd be happy to hear from you as well. If you see something, say something. Those insights and input help to inform responsiveness and decisions that we make at Food Bank For New York City and then I'm sure City Harvest makes as well. We're on pace this year to distribute more than 100 million pounds of good nutritious food across the five boroughs and we do it efficiently. For every dollar, for example, that you donate to Food Bank For New York City, that helps us to provide five meals across the market place.

Brian: Let's go to Harry. Oh, also in Forrest Hills so same neighborhood of Queens. That's all right for two calls in a row, who has a story from a particular food pantry I think. Harry, you're on WNYC. Hi.

Harry: Hi, Brian. Long time, no speak.

Brian: Glad you're on.

Harry: Hello?

Brian: Go ahead.

Harry: I volunteered for Masbia. M-A-S-B-I-A. They have a pantry and soup kitchen in Brooklyn. We stopped serving hot meals because that involves people sitting down. The city agency has been supplying frozen meals, about eight to a bag, which people could pick up every one of the five days we're open. We used to get 800 people a week, and now it's probably about 2,000. The hiccup we're having is, we use a software application. A lot of other pantries use it called Plentiful.

In order to sign in, you need a cell phone, which unfortunately cuts out people who have a landline because right now, to avoid lines around the block, we have reservations as you would have in a restaurant where people can show up from three to four o'clock, four to six o'clock in their timeslot. Again, that's to help limit contact. The hiccup I see is, not that much with our distribution, but it's more with, again, a certain amount of people being cut out.

Brian: Leslie, that sounds like a Food Bank issue too. Anything you want to address there to help them out?

Leslie: Yes. I would say that my good friend Jen McLean is probably better positioned to talk about this very special technology that has great opportunities and advantages.

Brian: Jen, you want to take it?

Jennifer: Yes. The Plentiful app is downloadable for any smartphone or Andriod or also a flip phone. That's the good news, you can use a flip phone as well. I'm glad Masbia is using it, terrific, because it does help cut the line and helps people, like you said, perfectly make a reservation. I hear the struggle you're saying is, what do people do when they don't have the smartphone or they don't have the ability or even a flip phone, and they want to use their landline or their computer? Tell me at Masbia, aren't you able to register them right there through the website? Right when they come in, you guys can register them from your deck.

Harry: I believe they can, but that may be an upper management issue because [crosstalk].

Jennifer: Talk to them. They can register people right there.

Harry: In other words, just register direct into the app.

Jennifer: Right into the website. There's a web portal. Hey, I'm telling for all your listeners and for people who are curious, go check out the Plentiful website and plentiful.org. Check it out and you can see how you can make reservations across the city at soup kitchens and pantries around the city.

Brian: Oh, that's great. That's for individuals who need the food, they can make reservations on an app if they have that technology.

Jennifer: Yes.

Brian: Plentiful.

Jennifer: They can even look at it on their computer.

Brian: The one word, Plentiful. That's the name of the app.

Jennifer: Plentiful, yes.

Brian: If they don't have an app, if they have a regular desktop or something, plentiful.org?

Jennifer: Yes. I think it's called plentifulapp.com for pantries, plentifulapp.com.

Brian: We have time for one more call and we're going to go to Carolyn in Bethlehem, Connecticut for this. Carolyn, you're on WNYC. Hello.

Carolyn: Hi, Brian. Oh my gosh. I'm going to start crying because I'm happy I'm on the air with you because I love you so much.

Brian: Thank you so much.

Carolyn: You have been a rock through the many, many years of hard times.

Brian: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Carolyn: Thank you. Now, I'm out of the city. I really miss being in the city, but my heart is with you every day.

Brian: Thank you.

Carolyn: I am now in this tiny rural town in Litchfield, Connecticut. The Litchfield County vibe, of course, is that it is a very, very wealthy county, but one of the things I've learned that is hard to swallow, but I had a glimpse of this, but I didn't realize how true it was, that in addition to extremely wealthy people being here, there are a lot of people who are really on the margins and struggling.

I've been very gratified and I'm inspired to be part of Caring for Bethlehem, which is an organization run by the Episcopal church I attend, the Catholic church and the Congregational church really runs it. One of the things that really struck me as a native New Yorker is the significance of cars and how many people who really, really need food. It's very, very well organized. We also have volunteers who do the driving and then that's another level of training that you need in order to be approved by social workers and different people will only go to certain houses because then those people grow accustomed to seeing those faces--

Brian: Carolyn, I'm going to leave it there.

Carolyn: It's very moving. Can I just tell you one thing-

Brian: Go ahead. Real quick. Yes.

Carolyn: -I learned Brian that really flipped me out, is that the Trump administration offered competitive bidding for different agribusinesses as well as local farms to be able to sell their food to the food pantries in their area and Republican donor-based huge agribusinesses in Florida won, and are driving tons and tons and tons of food up here to Connecticut while the farmers who are 10 minutes away from the neighbors they want to feed, lost out on the bidding. It's one of those details that makes the organizers of the food bank want to tear their hair out. I don't know if your guests have any sense of how big farms versus small farms are able to serve this incredible need right now and thanks [inaudible 00:23:20].

Brian: Carolyn, thank you so much. Thanks for your nice words at the beginning. Thanks for telling two stories that are important. We just have a minute left in this segment, but Leslie, going from the Food Bank for New York City, one, Carolyn tells a story of hidden poverty, which is prevalent. I don't have to tell you it's in "nicer neighborhoods of New York City." Let's say "wealthier neighborhoods of New York City." On a case by case basis, she's saying it's there in wealthy Litchfield, Connecticut. That's one, as well as that second story at the end that I had no idea about local farmers being boxed out of the government's food buying and distribution program.

Leslie: Sure. Brian, what I would say about is that hunger is often an invisible problem, especially in more suburban and rural communities. To be honest, you never really know what's going on for someone behind closed doors. We make lots of assumptions based upon the type of car that might be parked in the driveway or the size of your house. There are a lot of folks who are suffering and many seniors who are living on limited incomes and are frankly what we call asset rich, but cash poor.

They struggle to have enough money to go out and buy groceries at their local grocery store or supermarket and are turning in larger numbers to food banks and food pantries. I think that both Jen McLean and I could tell you stories about who's standing on line these days at Food Assistance Programs across the city and increasingly it's folks who are there for the first time. They ask me questions when I'm out there to say hello. "How does this work? Are you coming back?" They've lost their jobs, decreased wages. It's a really scary situation out there.

To address the other part of her question. The food supply chain is complex even in the best of times. We're learning as we go. We're actually at Food Bank for New York City working with New York State Department of Ag and New York State Producers and Farmers through a wonderful program called the Nourish Program, which leverages good healthy farm food and products and moves it rapidly to our New York City neighbors.

We're learning along the way. That also includes, frankly, some smaller producers and mid-sized farmers. Sometimes the noise of challenges gets a little louder than the actual successes that are happening and happily, I'm here to tell you on the phone today that we're moving millions of pounds of really nutritious farm food and product that's produced, at least in our case, in New York State to our New York City neighbors and all our neighbors across New York State. It just takes a while to do it well.

Brian: That has to be the last word in this segment. We're appreciative of the work as well as the time for this segment of Leslie Gordon, President, and CEO of the Food Bank for New York City and Jennifer McLean, City Harvest Chief Operating Officer. Listeners, there is a service you can find out about food pantries and soup kitchens in your neighborhood at 311. They also have told us about plentiful.org. Anything else you want to shout out, Jen on the way out the door just for people who actually need food, but don't know where to connect to it?

Jennifer: Yes, I think the best way to-- Both of us have on our website. You can just open up our website, go to find food, throw your Zip Code in and it'll open up all the pantries, all these new emergency pop-up sites that have happened across the city. You can find food today, tomorrow, just go right on our website, find food, put your Zip Code in.

Brian: Of course, these organizations will take your donations as well because there is such need. Washington is not stepping up in this area anytime soon, It seems like so. Jennifer and Leslie, thank you so much for your work and your time today.

Jennifer: Thanks, Brian.

Leslie: Thanks, Brian.

 

Copyright © 2020 New York Public Radio. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use at www.wnyc.org for further information.

New York Public Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline, often by contractors. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of New York Public Radio’s programming is the audio record.