Cityzens Giving Emergency Food - New York

Thanks to our generous supporters, from July 1 2020, through June 20, 2021, NYCP provided 7,977,552 meals across all our food programs, reaching more than 62,000 individuals across New York City. Grocery packages representing over 1.1 million meals were delivered to partner sites through our Mobile Pantry pilot program, distributed by these trusted community organizations to their populations in need. Our case managers accessed $4.4 million in services. In FY20, NYCP distributed over 6 million meals and Help 365 case managers accessed over $7 million in services for individuals and families seeking assistance.  We attribute the difference between the two years to the pandemic. From March 16 to August 23 2020, the number of new intakes -- individuals who have not needed our services before -- increased by 21%. Emergency food assistance was sought by many individuals who had never faced food insecurity before, and this urgency continued through all of FY21. While we were able to swiftly implement low-contact systems for providing food aid, the lack of privacy at our walkup service counters on the sidewalks outside our Pantry locations, and temporary suspension of Help 365 Mobile services due to partner site closures, had an impact on delivery of case management services. 

Prior to the pandemic, NYCP ran six food provisioning and social services programs, supported by a strong food rescue initiative. Choice Pantry distributes nutritionally balanced grocery packages to thousands of families annually from our locations in East Harlem and the Bronx. Our innovative “choice” model allows Pantry members to order their groceries online or on-site using touch screen tablets. Hot Meals program, based at our East Harlem location, offers healthy freshly prepared meals five days a week and “brown bag” lunches on weekends. Help 365 and Help 365 Mobile provide case-management services, such as assistance accessing SSI benefits, SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), and the recently launched Excluded Workers Fund, as well as Choice Pantry program enrollment. Project Dignity serves as a bridge back to well-being for our homeless guests, offering on-site showers, laundry, and haircuts, providing a mailing address, and connections with services that aid in locating housing, medical care, and job training. Live Healthy!, our nutrition education program, provides interactive wellness education, helping participants build the food preparation and shopping skills to eat healthily on a budget, and collaborates with clinical partners to reach food insecure New Yorkers at high risk for diabetes, hypertension, and other illnesses related to a poor diet. Our Nourish program serves low-income seniors in their own communities, providing supplemental grocery packages for over 15,000 individuals over 60 years old in FY21. We conduct Food Rescue through partnerships across New York City, collaborating with wholesale and retail food suppliers to rescue nutritious food that would otherwise end up in a landfill. 

Since March 16, 2020 (the day we switched to COVID-19 operations), we have added more than 6,600 new Pantry members, and distributed over 10,000,000 meals. The Choice Pantry in Manhattan provides over 30,000 meals per week, with the Bronx Pantry averaging around 15,000. The flexibility and innovation that make NYCP unique among food providers served us well during the pandemic. We quickly moved on-site operations outdoors, creating a walkup service area with tents and tables on the sidewalk in front of Pantry locations with masked staff encouraging guests to form socially distanced lines. Choice Pantry members pick up pre-packaged groceries during the day, with our “choice” model only available if the guest has pre-ordered online as the additional workforce necessary for in-person ordering makes social distancing in the Pantry impossible. All members continue to receive meat and non-meat proteins, fresh vegetables and fruits, grains and dairy products in each pre-bagged pantry package. Mondays are “senior day” in East Harlem; Pantry members over 60 and Nourish guests can collect their groceries in a single socially distanced visit. Hot Meals are distributed “to go” during a socially distanced afternoon outdoor pickup. Help 365 case managers help with SNAP and Pantry membership registration during pickup hours and also schedule telephone counseling sessions to aid in accessing benefits. Help 365 Mobile has returned to serving community sites as they reopen. Project Dignity had to suspend hygiene services for COVID-19 safety. We were able to resume offering showers last fall, using a timed appointment system which served over 600 individuals in FY20, and reinstated laundry and haircuts this summer. At the height of pandemic operations, the program continued to provide assistance with obtaining ID, mail services, and offer telehealth psychiatric assessments, helping individuals qualify for housing assistance, but being unable to welcome guests into our spaces and help them get cleaned up kept participation in Project Dignity at lower than normal levels, one more example of how the pandemic has been hardest on those who were already in dire need.  

Staff are working remotely when possible and in our locations on staggered shifts, wearing masks and practicing social distancing. Until very recently, we limited the involvement of volunteers to keep to a minimum the number of people in the Pantry spaces per shift and added additional shifts of per diem workers to keep Pantry operations on track. This was a difficult though necessary decision. Volunteers usually make up 70% of the Pantry workforce and many of our volunteers have generously given their time to NYCP for years. In FY19, 47 Brick Church volunteers contributed 141 hours of service to NYCP, and Brick Church members have long served on our Board and Advisory Council. Our volunteers are an integral part of the NYCP team, and we missed their energy and commitment. This spring volunteers have returned for limited socially distanced shifts, and it has been a pleasure to have the community back in our pantries. (If any Brick Church members would like to begin or resume volunteering at the East Harlem or Bronx Pantry location, they may get in touch with Erin Williams, Volunteer Manager: erinwilliams@nycommonpantry.org.) 

Safety concerns caused a number of emergency food providers to close their doors, even as food insecurity rose dramatically in their service areas. According to a June report from the Food Bank of New York City, 38% of the soup kitchens and food pantries in their citywide network closed by mid-April. The poorest neighborhoods in the Bronx, Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens lost the most emergency food resources; 73% of the closed providers were in areas where food insecurity was high even before the economic shutdown. 

The biggest change NYCP made to help alleviate the increase in food insecurity citywide was accelerating the implementation of our Mobile Pantry pilot program. Since April 2020, we have been working with other social service organizations and community leaders, including Graham Windham, SAPNA, Child Center of New York, the Upper Manhattan Mutual Aid Society, and City Council members in the Bronx and Manhattan, to provide shelf-stable pre-bagged grocery packages for distribution, reaching New Yorkers in need in their own neighborhoods. While many of our food rescue and donation sources were closed due to COVID-19, we were able to repurpose our food rescue vehicles for this emergency service, making deliveries to locations around the city. The Mobile Pantry currently serves four NYC boroughs, reaching 20 weekly or bi-weekly community partner sites and another 26 monthly, on average providing 15,000 meals weekly, as many as our Choice Pantry Bronx. 

As the city reopens and our food rescue trucks return to their intended use, the populations we are reaching via this program will still need help, especially those in “food desert” locations, with few affordable healthy food options. In the fall of 2021, our first Mobile Pantry Vehicle, with refrigeration, freezer, and concession window to serve guests directly from the truck, will begin serving locations in Upper Manhattan and the Bronx, providing full Choice Pantry services, including case management and nutrition education. NYCP has set the goal of at least 20 full-service Mobile Pantry sites citywide by 2024, while maintaining the current level of service at our brick-and-mortar Choice Pantry locations in Harlem and the Bronx. 

Links:

• Organization Website

• New York Common Pantry FY21 Program Totals (PDF)
  

In New York City, the pandemic has more than doubled the number of residents in need. Approximately one in four New Yorkers is facing food insecurity, with the highest concentration in the Black and Latino communities served by New York Common Pantry in Manhattan and the Bronx. Since the start of COVID-19 operations on March 16, 2020 to date, NYCP has added over 5,800 new pantry members. The East Harlem Choice Pantry provides an average of 30,000 meals a week, while the smaller Bronx Choice Pantry provides an average of over 16,000.  Across all food programs, NYCP has served over 7,300,000 meals during FY21.  

NYCP staff had to quickly develop solutions to meet the increased need for our services without compromising the health and safety of our guests and staff. By setting up temporary tents and tables on the sidewalk in front of our locations, we created an outdoor walkup service counter. Choice Pantry members pick up pre-bagged groceries during the day, with our “choice” model suspended for now as the additional workforce and personalized service required makes social distancing in the Pantry impossible. Members continue to receive meat and non-meat proteins, fresh vegetables and fruits, grains, and dairy products in each pantry package. Mondays have been added as “senior day” at our East Harlem location; Pantry members over 60 and participants in the Nourish Senior program can collect their groceries in a single socially distanced visit. Hot Meals are distributed “to go” during a socially distanced afternoon outdoor pickup. Help 365 case managers help with SNAP registration and other benefit entitlements during Pantry pickup hours and schedule telephone counseling sessions for those seeking support accessing benefits. Project Dignity provided counseling and mail pickup for half the number of homeless guests they would normally see from March through September 2020, when shower facilities reopened with a sign-up for timed appointments on a limited schedule.  Project Dignity provides supportive housing and public benefits application assistance, psychiatric evaluations for housing and benefits support, medical screenings via Telehealth, and assistance with obtaining birth certificates and state-issued IDs. The availability of hygiene services has increased program participation, though case managers anticipate it will remain lower than normal until we can safely re-open our buildings to guests.The Live Healthy! nutrition education program works with clinical partners to implement Food MD, a food security and wellness initiative for individuals with health issues related to a poor diet, and runs a CSA pilot program currently serving 30 Bronx families.

The biggest change to our programs and services has been the accelerated development of the Mobile Pantry program. Safety concerns caused a number of emergency food providers to close their doors, even as food insecurity rose dramatically in their service areas. According to a June report from the Food Bank of New York City, 38% of the soup kitchens and food pantries in their citywide network closed by mid-April. The poorest neighborhoods in the Bronx, Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens lost the most emergency food resources; 73% of the closed providers were in areas where food insecurity was high even before the economic shutdown. NYCP is now working with other social service organizations and community leaders to deliver shelf-stable grocery packages for distribution to their vulnerable populations, reaching New Yorkers in need in their own neighborhoods. The necessity of providing emergency food assistance for people in “food desert” neighborhoods who lack the ability or means to travel to our locations will continue after the current health crisis has passed. In July, NYCP will take delivery of a custom-equipped 22’ Mobile Pantry vehicle, designed to deliver the same Choice Pantry food and social services support our guests receive at our locations. Currently working with Invisible Hands, UberEats, and our own Food Rescue box trucks to drop off grocery packages, the Mobile Pantry Program reaches 27 regular bi-monthly community partner sites, serving over 24,000 duplicated households throughout the city, with a further 26 sites scheduling less frequent food deliveries, averaging 10 special distributions per month.This program has provided over 850,000 meals for over 50,000 duplicated households since it was launched in April 2020.  

We coped with the challenge of increased food costs, an issue that continues into FY21. The supply chain instability created by the pandemic has made food prices higher. Our FY20 budget for purchased food was $678,563. In FY21, we increased that to $900,750, but we spent over $1.2 million on food during the first six months of the fiscal year. We anticipate spending another $1.2 million thru June 30 2021, even working with our generous in-kind partners and the return of food rescue sources as the city reopens. Normally we receive or rescue over 70% of the food for our Choice Pantry, Hot Meals, and Brown Bag programs. In FY20, for the period ending on June 30th, that number was slightly under 50% due to pandemic-related closures. NYCP did not have to suspend services, turn away hungry New Yorkers, or compromise on the quality and freshness of the food we provide, but that meant spending more. We distributed 61% more pounds of food this year than we did last year during the same period. The generous emergency support provided from individuals via GlobalGiving helped us to mitigate the massive rise in food costs. We also hired additional per diem workers to cover the staggered shifts we implemented to meet the increased need for emergency food assistance at the height of the pandemic, while we could not have volunteers in our pantries.

While we have not noticed a significant change in the demographic information provided by our guests during FY21, we have seen an increase in participation of approximately 18% across all food programs, with over 300,100 duplicated individuals accessing NYCP services since we began COVID-19 operations in March 2020.  The majority of our guests are working poor, living in low-income “food deserts” with few healthy affordable meal options. They are more likely to suffer from Type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and other health issues linked to a poor diet. In FY20, 68% of visitors were Hispanic, 20% Black, 5% Asian and 2% White, with 5% not providing a racial identity. 62% were female, 37% male, and 1% were gender nonconforming; 13% were children under 18, 68% were adults between 18-65, and 19% adults over 65.

Staff are working remotely when possible and in our locations on staggered shifts, wearing masks and practicing social distancing. Until recently, we limited the involvement of our volunteers to keep to a minimum the number of people in the pantry spaces per shift and added additional shifts of per diem workers to keep pantry operations on track. This was a difficult though necessary decision. Volunteers usually make up 70% of the pantry workforce and many of our volunteers have generously given their time to NYCP for years. They are an integral part of the NYCP team, and we missed their energy and commitment. As COVID-19 guidelines were modified, our volunteer manager was able to welcome back longtime supporters and recruit new volunteers. It has been a pleasure to have the community back in our pantries.

Strong community partnerships have been key to our success at serving those in need during the pandemic. Through a new collaboration with the West Side Campaign Against Hunger, we have taken steps to increase our Food Rescue program’s reach as sources of donated food reopen. Social service agencies like Child Center of NY and Graham Windham, and local elected officials in the Bronx and Manhattan, partnered with our Mobile Pantry program to connect us with populations in need. Invisible Hands and UberEats help us bring food to the most vulnerable while we await the arrival of our Mobile Pantry vehicle. Foundation, corporate, government, and individual donors have generously responded to the increased need for our services, ensuring that our doors remain open and our pantry shelves stocked. While we anticipate the challenges created by COVID-19 will continue into FY22, we are guardedly optimistic that we will have the resources to meet them.