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Food packages at the JCC are ready to be distributed. Each bag contains about ten food items, which the JCC distributes food to approximately a hundred households in Washington Heights and Inwood. PHOTO: Gloria Pazmiño
The holidays have begun with Thanksgiving as the traditional time when family and friends share a meal to thank for the year that is about to end. But for many, the economic recession is forcing them to get food in pantries.
Unfortunately, pantries depend on the generosity of others to stock their shelves and assist neighbors. And with the economic downturn, donations have decreased as demand increases.
The number of people receiving assistance from the pantry of the Community Association for Progressive Dominicans (ACDP as they are known in Spanish) in Upper Manhattan has decreased. So has the Jewish Community Council of Washington Heights and Inwood pantry’s assistance.
It’s not because less people are hungry or in need of their service, but because in recent months, the pantry at the JCC has had no option but to close its doors because they have not been able to stock their shelves.
According to Anat Coleman, the JCC’s Community Affairs Coordinator, the JCC places orders with the Food Bank every week, but sometimes there’s simply no food to order. “Sometimes we go to make an order with the food bank and there is not enough food,” said Coleman. ACDP and the Office of Assemblyman Guillermo Linares have been surveying the pantries in Upper Manhattan to ascertain if they have been able to keep with the demand.
After talking to a dozen of food pantries and soup kitchens in the area, the answer is a resounding “no”. The food pantry at the JCC, for example, services approximately a hundred households every day they are open, and the organization limits the amount of times a resident can pick up a food package to once a month.
“If the food bank doesn’t have the food, we prefer to close the pantry and wait until we can make decent packages of at least ten items for the people we service,” said Coleman. “We don’t want to distribute a package with three food items, because we realize folks can only come once a month. The majority of the households we service are senior citizens, and families.” Coleman says the JCC as been forced to close its doors since this summer, when the Food Bank started having less and less of the pantry’s usual stock items, which are already limited due to the kosher guidelines the JCC follows.
Soledad Hiciano, executive director of ACDP indicates “JCC story is not unique. Last year, at ACDP we were distributing to 150 families every week, but this year with less donations, we are down to 90 to 100. And as we spoke to other area providers, some have been forced to close their doors and the lucky ones are not able to keep up with the demand.”
ACDP’s report to be released shortly indicates that the Washington Heights Ecumenical Food Pantry is currently serving from 180 to 200 people per week (90 people per day because they are open twice a week). While in the summer of 2011 it used to serve 300 per day (2 days a week), approximately 600 per week, meaning that over half the capacity is gone.
Over on the east side of Broadway at Fresh Youth Initiatives (FYI), a community-based youth organization focused on service as a means of building leadership skills, operates the ‘Helping Hands Food Pantry,’ the only youth-run pantry in the City, and it is also tightening the belt. “Our numbers have gone up dramatically, and they seem to keep increasing continuously every year,” said Steve Ramos, FYI’s Executive Director. He says that though every year they anticipate a five percent jump in the amount of people served in the pantry, that number has doubled.
As a result, FYI has had to decrease its days of operation from twice a month to just one day.
Among the strategies employed to deal with the increase demand is asking that people who collect food packages at the pantry provide proof of address, identification, and sometimes, a letter from social services stating their need. “It’s hard to have to screen people, when we used to open our doors to everyone in need, but it’s what we are being forced to do,” he said.
Of the varying population in need, Ramos said he has noticed a significant increase in the younger, middle-aged, and sometimes professional people who are turning up at the food line to pick up a package. “We are used to seeing senior citizens, the working poor, and people on fixed income,” said Ramos. “Now we’re seeing people who just can’t find a job. “Ramos explains that he has taken FYI’s food drive efforts a step further by holding a donation drive in front of various area supermarkets and asking costumers to donate canned goods or cash.
“We are learning how to manage in this economy,” said Coleman. “People count on us, so we try to provide them with options; it’s the best we can do for now. “Assemblyman Linares added, “These organizations are doing a spectacular job. They are constantly figuring out how to do more with less.”
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