Who will feed the hungry during the coronavirus outbreak?

New York City food pantries and soup kitchens had already been seeing increasing demand for food assistance before the novel coronavirus outbreak, with about 1 in 8 New Yorkers unable to afford enough food, according to Hunger Free America. Now, the pandemic is expected to exacerbate those needs, especially among elderly individuals encouraged to stay home, children who are out of school, and people losing their jobs.

“It’s going to take a hunger crisis and make it far worse,” said Joel Berg, CEO of Hunger Free America. 

The city has sought to address rising hunger despite closing down public schools and senior centers. Anyone who is 18 years old or younger will be able to go to any public school building to get free breakfast and lunch for now. And senior citizens who normally get food at senior centers – which have largely stopped their usual programming – can still pick up their meals there or get them delivered to their home.

While Berg praised the city for taking the initiative to continue providing school meals, he cautioned that it wouldn’t fully account for students’ ongoing needs.

“If the whole reason for closing schools is that you want social distancing and don’t want large crowds of people together, parents may not be thrilled to send their kids to school to pick up food,” he said, arguing that a more coordinated effort with greater federal funding would be needed. 

Charities providing food assistance are continuing their services, though they now have fewer volunteers and face many uncertainties about the future. About 70% of the New York Common Pantry’s labor is provided by volunteers, who have been coming in to help less often. The nonprofit has relied on a partnership with FreshDirect to provide pre-prepared to-go meals, made by the company’s staff, to speed up their services and reduce crowding in their facilities. Read more here.