Staten Island Volunteers Distributed Food To Local Families For National Volunteer Week As Need Increases While Funding Diminishes: Project Hospitality
Editor’s note: We have been covering the issues related to the USDA’s food stamp and SNAP programs, along with other proposed cuts that will disproportionately affect those experiencing food insecurity and hunger. As readers learned last weekend, during the testimony provided at the Senate Committee on Aging headed by Senator Gillibrand, seniors and elderly residents on a fixed income, especially those who cannot walk easily to their neighborhood grocery store, food pantry, or soup kitchen. Look for this story on Saturday at 6pm. Learn how you can help those in your community experiencing hunger yourself, just by adding a few extra items to your grocery shopping trip each week.
The video and photo slideshow below are from the NYC events held during National Volunteer Week, last week:
Alex Hughes, Project Hospitality’s Sr. Director of Hunger Prevention and Advocacy, provided the following answers to the questions we shared about these topics:
Do you have any information about the current need for food pantries and food banks, and if any of the proposed or implemented cuts have affected New York as of yet? In regards to emergency food, rubber has hit the road in terms of cuts. Elimination of the LFPA (Local Food Purchasing Agreement) program by the USDA has removed $1 billion dollars from the sector. This program has been vital in feeding children via school meals with local food, as well as providing funds to food banks to purchase local foods to distribute to their member panties, who then provide directly to our neighbors. Children will go hungry as a result of these cuts. TEFAP, the federal emergency food assistance program, is facing cuts of up to 40%. This is happening all in conjunction with rising costs of living and wages not rising. The emergency food sector in New York, as well as nationally, will feel substantial pain from these cuts.
Also, what does this mean for senior residents who are on a fixed or low income (perhaps receiving meals at home or SNAP benefits) and people who rely on food pantries to survive? The House budget resolution passed could eliminate $230 billion from SNAP over the course of 10 years. This amounts to a 20% cut, which would be the largest SNAP cut in history. This is at a time when programs that directly benefited pantries and food banks are also facing reductions. Without policy interventions, we are headed to a hunger cliff and likely the most severe levels of hunger not seen since the Great Depression. Our most vulnerable populations, such as seniors, children, and people with disabilities, will suffer disproportionately.
The original announcement for the National Volunteer Week events in New York is below:
NEW YORKERS GIVE BACK DURING NATIONAL VOLUNTEER WEEK: APRIL 20-26
NEW YORK CARES WILL OFFER DOZENS OF VOLUNTEER PROJECTS IN STATEN ISLAND, GIVING NEW YORKERS MORE WAYS TO MAKE AN IMPACT IN THEIR COMMUNITIES
Volunteers will beautify parks on Earth Day, teach local students about the joy of reading, and prepare meals for New Yorkers experiencing food insecurity.
During National Volunteer Week (April 20-26), New York Cares, New York City’s largest volunteer network, will offer more than 200 volunteer projects that will engage more than 1,600 volunteers to serve thousands of individuals in need across all five boroughs. This week — and all year round — New York Cares encourages New Yorkers to dedicate time to volunteer projects that address the city’s greatest needs to create meaningful, lasting impact in local communities. Projects include distributing meals to those experiencing food insecurity, revitalizing parks and gardens, tutoring local students in English and Math, spreading joy to the elderly, and much more.
Thursday, April 24 – STATEN ISLAND
- Food Distribution at Project Hospitality
8:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.
Project Hospitality
205 Canal Street, Staten Island, NY, 10304
New York Cares volunteers will prepare and distribute bags of fresh food to a long line of local Staten Island community members. Volunteers will unload deliveries and organize food supplies.
Banner Image: Father and child receiving food donations. Image Credit – NY Cares
New York Cares
It began with a few caring New Yorkers. In 1987, a group of friends who wanted to volunteer found themselves frustrated by the fractured nonprofit landscape, making volunteer opportunities hard to find. They wanted a centralized way to organize efforts and access communities. And New York Cares was born. revitalization Since then, we’ve become the largest organization of our kind—making it possible to amplify individual efforts and scale partnerships that serve communities in every borough.
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