OPINION: Staten Islanders Can Solve Food Bank Shortages Expected To Worsen – What If Everyone Did That? UPDATED

OPINION: Staten Islanders Can Help Solve Food Bank Shortages Expected To Worsen – What If Everyone Did That?

As funding cuts continue, cutting across multiple different types of programs, the food pantry and food bank system, on which millions of residents of all states rely, are not exempt from these funding cuts.  

In fact, multiple food pantries across the country have had shipments that were in transit to their locations rescinded, funding for the programs has been cut, and employees at federal agencies taking care of the system (the USDA in many cases) have been or are being laid off.  This is causing a shortage of food at pantries and food banks, as well as senior assistance programs such as Meals on Wheels.  According to Mayor Adams during an interview with 1010 WINS: “But this is what I do know. As I shared yesterday, September 2024, we had the largest number of Americans that went to Europe. 

“But during that same year, we had the largest number of Americans that went to food pantries. There is a real divide. Ten percent of our wealth is here. Ten percent of the people consume the wealth. And 90 percent of the people are suffering, afraid, not only in New York, but across the entire country.”

With all of this bad news coming out, it is quite easy to become disheartened.  But Staten Islanders should recognize that the power to solve at least some of this problem is directly in their hands – and easier than you may think.  

A recent article from The CITY (this article appeared on StatenIslander this morning) talks in detail about the actual issues facing these food banks.  Here is a brief synopsis:

“…But feeding the hungry is about to get much harder. The U.S. Department of Agriculture halted deliveries to food banks in six states without explanation, Politico reported in March. While the department told Reuters later that month it is still making purchases to support food banks, it did not answer questions about the missing deliveries.

Now, those interruptions are also impacting New York.

Executives for the Food Bank for New York City said 2.5 million pounds of food that was supposed to arrive at their warehouse from USDA in May and June has been put on an indefinite pause.

That stop comes as the Trump Administration is reviewing $500 million in Congress-approved funding for the Emergency Food Assistance Program  — about $30 million of which U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) said flows to New York State. Food Bank warehouse operators say that program currently accounts for roughly 65% of its inventory. 

Recent cuts to funding and programs across multiple federal agencies, coupled with those proposed at the city level, has left food banks scrambling for ways to fill the holes in their patchwork sources of funding — especially as they say demand at pantries has exceeded even the extraordinarily high levels seen during the pandemic.”

That’s The Dilemma – What Is The Possible Solution (Or At Least A Help)

For islanders concerned about fellow residents who are facing hunger, there is something you can do.  Every time you go on a shopping trip, you can be helping food banks and pantries.  If you are also strapped for cash, as so many are, you can buy just a little extra something to donate to your local banks and pantries.

If you head over to the canned food aisle, you can grab two or three cans of any bean or bean product (cannellini beans, pinto beans, chickpeas, refried beans, canned ham or SPAM, etc, etc.)  If it happens to be during the time of ShopRite’s CanCan sale, they are super inexpensive. But, even on a recent trip to Stop and Shop, the cost of a regular non-organic can of beans was $1.25.  For about $3, you can help your local food assistance organization to feed the hungry in your community.

If you prefer to get non-canned items, you can choose from many of the non-perishable food items that are available at grocery stores.  These include cereals, canned evaporated milk, bags of nuts (pistachios and walnuts are high in protein), and anything else that has a high protein content.  Sauces and condiments are great, too, but they should be in addition to the high protein items.

If you’re feeling extra generous any given week, and want to do more, you can purchase some fresh items as well.  Salvation Army’s Port Richmond Corps, Stapleton Corps, and Project Hospitality all have soup kitchens for local residents to come and have either grab-and-go meals or sit-down meals, and they are always in need of fresh fruits, vegetables, and bread products to add to their homemade meals.  So, while you are on your shopping trip, you can pick up some produce and fresh bread from whichever store you are at.  For this type of donation, however, you will need to stop by one of those locations while they are open, so they can accept your perishable donation.  Salvation Army’s PR Corps is open until 2pm daily, the Stapleton Corps has similar hours, and Project Hospitality may be able to take your donation later than that, usually until 4pm.  Please call first to make sure there is someone there.

The beauty of the canned and non-perishable food donations is that, if you are shopping at a ShopRite on Staten Island, you can simply bring your newly purchased donatable item to the Customer Service desk, tell them what it is for, and they will take it for you and make sure it is delivered to their food pantry partners.  We verified this with ShopRite, and received the following statement about their collection of non-perishable donations for local food banks:

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“Mannix Family Markets supports food pantries year-round. Customers can purchase canned and non-perishable foods at the ShopRites of Forest & Richmond, Hylan Plaza and Veterans Road and drop off donations at the customer service desk. 

The stores also offer the opportunity for local hunger-fighting organizations — including South Shore Community Food Pantry, New Direction Services, Lou’s Helping Hand Foundation, Knights of Columbus and Oakwood Heights Community Church — to host a table or collection bin at the stores on the weekends. 

And as part of the ShopRite Partners In Caring initiative, the ShopRites of Forest & Richmond, Hylan Plaza and Veterans Road accept food donations on behalf of local food pantries in the late summer and early fall.” 

If you are not at ShopRite, you can go to one of their stores to drop off the items, or you can drop off your items at the food pantry that is closest to you.  To find one in your area, visit the NYC website for Food Pantries.  This site has another list, from Covid-19, so you should check to make sure they are still providing services before visiting.

On Staten Island, for example, you can visit the Catholic Charities location on Hylan Blvd, Community Health Action on Bay Street, the Theodore Atlas Foundation on Cary Avenue, the JCC on Manor Road, and the list goes on.  Holy Family is not on their list, but they were running a community food pantry that was experiencing shortages in recent years as well.   Most of these food pantries will accept your donations of non-perishable food.  It is only the perishable foods that you need to inquire about.

Staten Island Hunger Task Force recently held a legislative forum, where they discussed some of the difficulties being faced by food banks, food pantries, and soup kitchens in the area, based on a survey they sent earlier in the year.  Since this is an evolving situation, with so many newly announced cuts being implemented, the results of that survey are likely moot.  The article by The City was from April 9th, and the cuts to food pantries were just coming into effect.

Here are some calculations on how this could play out if, as the title states, What if Everyone Did That?

According to the US Census data’s Staten Island profile, there are 169,526 households on the island.  Median household income is $95,543, so most of the families on Staten Island can afford to do this.  Even if you are lower income, you can still help your struggling neighbors for less than $3 per week.  This article assumes that all the families on Staten Island have a once a week shopping day, and will be extrapolated to monthly cans of food collected, if each and every family/household on Staten Island bought two cans of food per weekly trip.

If EVERY family, just here on Staten Island, followed this suggestion, the food pantries for the whole island would receive an additional 1,356,208 units of canned foods per month.  That is 1.3 MILLION cans of food.  That can feed a lot of families!  Over the course of the year, the food banks would receive an additional 16,274,496 units of canned non-perishable food to help feed local families.  This could go a long way to replacing the food donations they are no longer receiving.

One thing that should be mentioned, as discussed in our interviews with Professor Edelman, is the tendency of people to believe that people who are poor somehow deserve this situation.  This can be called the Stigma of Poverty, and is one of the reasons people don’t ask their neighbors for help when they are in need, and there is a lot of shame involved.  However, there are SO MANY reasons for unintentional poverty.  These include the following involuntary and unintentional reasons:

-unexpected job loss with difficulty finding a new job

-injury or disability

-unexpected illness, with concomitant medical bills and other unexpected expenses

-unexpected motor vehicle repairs that can take all of the family’s savings

-veterans returning home with PTSD who are unable to find work

-formerly imprisoned individuals who have served their time and paid their debt to society – these individuals can fare very poorly in a competitive job market

And this is just a partial list.  It is not always the fault of the individual who is struggling, and there is not much help for them if they do fall into this hole.  Food pantries exist to help people put food on the table when they might otherwise be unable.  And do not forget that a significant portion of people in poverty have children as well.  Children are never to blame for being in poverty, because they are not ever responsible for it, and they cannot help their family to get out of it.

There is a saying that I can mention here to conclude this article, and provide more encouragement for you to not judge those in this situation.  It is attributed to John Bradford, but this is a paraphrase:

“But for the grace of God, there goes myself.”

Jessica K