NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — The economic ripples from the COVID-19 pandemic have millions of people in our area confronting the realities of hunger.
WCBS 880’s Peter Haskell reports there’s a double whammy situation happening at the Jersey shore, where the demand for emergency food has doubled, but all the food pantries have closed.
“They had to because they had to reconfigure how they did the distribution,” explains Kim Guadagno, head of Fulfill – the former FoodBank of Monmouth and Ocean Counties.
The food bank is one of the Jersey Shore’s largest distribution networks of emergency food, when it shut, many people were left hungry with not resources.
She tells WCBS 880’s Haskell in this week’s In-Depth Podcast that it was impossible to enforce social distancing at their food banks and were forced to close.
Now, hundreds of families are forced to decide between paying bills and feeding their children.
“Whether you pay for food, whether you pay to keep your lights on, whether you pay for your kid’s medicine,” Guadagno says this is the reality for many New Jersey residents.
New York City’s food czar, Kathryn Garcia, says its been a challenge to help everyone in need during the pandemic, but they’ve expanded the safety net.
“We don't want anyone to go hungry and that's why the public schools that are providing food will provide food to anyone,” Garcia said.
She says things won't get better until jobs return and people can earn an income again.
Garcia estimates at least 2.2 million New Yorkers are currently food insecure – roughly the population of Houston, Texas.
“You have a very steep hill to climb but it is still getting worse,” she said. “I'm hopeful that we can begin to open up.”