Long Island food banks rally to feed the hungry as need increases
Food insecurity on Long Island should now be recognized as a "chronic" condition for many struggling Long Islanders, not a temporary situation, as the price of food and the Island's overall cost of living has risen, experts said.
And as the holiday season approaches, starting with Thanksgiving on Thursday, officials at the two regional food banks said they are ready to help.
"We distributed 15,000 turkeys" in just one week, Randi Shubin Dresner, president and chief executive of Melville-based Island Harvest Food Bank, said in an interview last week. The food bank expects to "deliver another 10,000 turkeys before Thanksgiving ... Our goal is to help people through the entire holiday season, not just Thanksgiving."
Dresner and Paule Pachter, president and chief executive of Hauppauge-based Long Island Cares —The Harry Chapin Regional Food Bank, said they have also seen a growing recognition from the general public about the need in the community. Businesses will offer their locations as food collection points, and supermarkets will provide food — Stop & Shop recently donated 1,750 turkeys to both food banks, for example. Many corporations will provide financial assistance and their employees have volunteered to package food or participate in donation drives. "We're also looking at an increase in food drives ... The public understands the need," Pachter said.
There has also been a growth in the amount of government grant aid at the federal, state and local levels, officials said.
Both Dresner and Pachter cited a 2022 "Map the Meal Gap" report from Feeding America — the most recent numbers available — that estimated there were 221,190 food-insecure people on Long Island, up from an estimated 156,870 in 2021.
Long Island Cares officials said there has been a 54% increase in the number of people who visited its pantries in October 2023 versus October of this year — from 13,838 to 21,300.
"Historically, you look at the work of the pantries and food banks in providing emergency food assistance as responding to an acute crisis," Pachter said in an interview. Now, though, he said: "What's happened, in my opinion, over the last 10 years, food insecurity on Long Island and many other places has become chronic. It's no longer a system where one could easily define it as an emergency intervention, temporary in time, to get families back on their feet. It's become people needing to use emergency food pantries on a regular basis — at least monthly, for some weekly."
A case in point is the number of people coming to Long Island Cares' newest food pantry in Valley Stream — one of seven satellite food pantries the food bank operates across the Island — since it opened on a busy commercial stretch along Rockaway Avenue.
The facility opened formally on Sept. 10, and by Sept. 30 had assisted 610 people, said Lourdes Taglialatela, program center coordinator. By the end of October, she said, 854 people were helped.
The reason many come to the pantry, based on client surveys, is that "the cost of food is too high and inflation. It's usually one or both together," Taglialatela said. She added that some clients report they are unemployed or underemployed.
Dadyne Sinois, 51, of Valley Stream, visited the pantry this past Wednesday. She said she has been out of work for about a year after being laid off as a home health aide and personal care assistant. She is looking for work, but in the meantime, she said, "I go around and try to get more food."
She said when she saw the new pantry had opened, she checked it out. "Food is so expensive now, so this is going to help me," she said.
Sinois also has two teenage sons, ages 13 and 16, who are always hungry, she said. She said she tells them: "You just ate. I have to go find more food. It's crazy." She said she has even tried to get her sons to become a vegan like she is, thinking that would reduce the need to buy expensive meats and poultry. But she said they weren't interested.
Among the grocery items Sinois picked up were cereal, canned vegetables and a frozen turkey breast she was particularly excited about, since it would enable her to serve a Thanksgiving dinner to her boys. "They will eat all this. I'm a vegan, I don't eat this. This is just for them."
ECLI-Vibes, a nonprofit agency based in Islandia that helps victims of domestic violence, sexual assault and human trafficking, started its own food pantry three years ago, said executive director Jennifer Hernandez.
"We work on people's mental health," Hernandez said. But people can't focus on counseling, she said, "if they are hungry ... We've had parents who don't eat because they are feeding their kids instead."
She said the agency had to limit the number of people they assisted through the food pantry, which is open to its clients and the general public, after seeing a spike in visitors last year. In November 2023, the agency helped 4,359 people, up from 1,288 in November 2022, according to numbers provided by the organization.
Now, the agency accepts about 1,200 people each month. Hernandez said the pantry gets food from both Long Island Cares and Island Harvest. "They are amazing partners of food," she said.
The agency also conducts its own food collection drives and, ahead of Thanksgiving, planned to provide about 200 families with "Blessing Boxes" — baskets filled with canned vegetables, cranberry sauce, stuffing, pasta and pasta sauce and a gift card for a turkey.
Pachter said the food banks have received more government aid, pointing to a $23 million New York State grant to be divided among the state's 10 food banks to meet the need during Thanksgiving, Christmas and the first quarter of the new year. "Long Island Cares got $2 million released in time for the holidays. That gave us a pretty good cushion to know we had the resources to purchase more food," he said.
Dresner, of Island Harvest, also pointed to increased government aid. She said the federal Commodity Supplemental Food Program, distributed through New York State, has upped its funding to the agency, enabling it to double the number of seniors it provides food packages for per month to 8,000. According to a spokesperson, funding for the program went from $467,100 per month to $1,070,696.
On Tuesday, Dresner and Suffolk County Executive Edward Romaine announced a $250,000 grant from the county to Island Harvest for the new "Nourish Suffolk County" program, which will enable the food bank to purchase produce from 10 local farms to bolster the farming community and help county residents in need of food.
"In this program, Island Harvest ... will be able to purchase good, wholesome produce from our friends and our farmers across Long Island and also support our neighbors in need," Dresner said during the announcement at the Sisters of St. Joseph's farm in Brentwood.
As Thanksgiving approaches, Dresner said, "There's an expectation people have about being able to have a holiday meal with their family and friends. We want to be able to help people."
The food bank's 16th annual Bethpage Turkey Drive, held this past Friday in conjunction with the Bethpage Federal Credit Union, has an important role in that effort.
"Number one, they put a lot of resources behind this event," Dresner said. "It gives us a lot of visibility ... Bethpage helps us get the word out." She said that 4,425 turkeys were collected at last year's event, enabling Island Harvest to "get a massive amount of food into the community at an important time of year."
This year, a record-breaking 5,800 turkeys were donated, a spokesperson said.
The event brings out a groundswell of participation from other corporations, community groups and individuals, said Linda Armyn, the credit union's president and chief executive.
"It has become a real meaningful drive on Long Island, when the communities come together," she said. "We have families who've come for years, Girl Scout and Boy Scout troops ... We have a long list of companies that come with either large monetary gifts [or] truckloads of turkeys."
To donate, visit bethpagefcu.com/community.
Food insecurity on Long Island should now be recognized as a "chronic" condition for many struggling Long Islanders, not a temporary situation, as the price of food and the Island's overall cost of living has risen, experts said.
And as the holiday season approaches, starting with Thanksgiving on Thursday, officials at the two regional food banks said they are ready to help.
"We distributed 15,000 turkeys" in just one week, Randi Shubin Dresner, president and chief executive of Melville-based Island Harvest Food Bank, said in an interview last week. The food bank expects to "deliver another 10,000 turkeys before Thanksgiving ... Our goal is to help people through the entire holiday season, not just Thanksgiving."
Dresner and Paule Pachter, president and chief executive of Hauppauge-based Long Island Cares —The Harry Chapin Regional Food Bank, said they have also seen a growing recognition from the general public about the need in the community. Businesses will offer their locations as food collection points, and supermarkets will provide food — Stop & Shop recently donated 1,750 turkeys to both food banks, for example. Many corporations will provide financial assistance and their employees have volunteered to package food or participate in donation drives. "We're also looking at an increase in food drives ... The public understands the need," Pachter said.
WHAT NEWSDAY FOUND
- Officials from Long Island Cares — the Harry Chapin Regional Food Bank and Island Harvest, the region's two food banks, said the need for food assistance has risen as the overall cost of living on the Island has gone up. The number of food-insecure Long Islanders increased from an estimated 156,870 in 2021, to 221,190 in 2022, according to a Feeding America report.
- As Thanksgiving approaches, efforts to provide needy Long Islanders with food have kicked into high gear, with turkey and trimming collections and holiday meal distributions.
- Additional government aid has also helped the food banks meet the need in the community, food bank officials said.
There has also been a growth in the amount of government grant aid at the federal, state and local levels, officials said.
Pantry visits up
Both Dresner and Pachter cited a 2022 "Map the Meal Gap" report from Feeding America — the most recent numbers available — that estimated there were 221,190 food-insecure people on Long Island, up from an estimated 156,870 in 2021.
Long Island Cares officials said there has been a 54% increase in the number of people who visited its pantries in October 2023 versus October of this year — from 13,838 to 21,300.
"Historically, you look at the work of the pantries and food banks in providing emergency food assistance as responding to an acute crisis," Pachter said in an interview. Now, though, he said: "What's happened, in my opinion, over the last 10 years, food insecurity on Long Island and many other places has become chronic. It's no longer a system where one could easily define it as an emergency intervention, temporary in time, to get families back on their feet. It's become people needing to use emergency food pantries on a regular basis — at least monthly, for some weekly."
A case in point is the number of people coming to Long Island Cares' newest food pantry in Valley Stream — one of seven satellite food pantries the food bank operates across the Island — since it opened on a busy commercial stretch along Rockaway Avenue.
The facility opened formally on Sept. 10, and by Sept. 30 had assisted 610 people, said Lourdes Taglialatela, program center coordinator. By the end of October, she said, 854 people were helped.
The reason many come to the pantry, based on client surveys, is that "the cost of food is too high and inflation. It's usually one or both together," Taglialatela said. She added that some clients report they are unemployed or underemployed.
Dadyne Sinois picks up food at the Valley Stream pantry. Credit: Newsday/Howard Schnapp
Dadyne Sinois, 51, of Valley Stream, visited the pantry this past Wednesday. She said she has been out of work for about a year after being laid off as a home health aide and personal care assistant. She is looking for work, but in the meantime, she said, "I go around and try to get more food."
She said when she saw the new pantry had opened, she checked it out. "Food is so expensive now, so this is going to help me," she said.
Sinois also has two teenage sons, ages 13 and 16, who are always hungry, she said. She said she tells them: "You just ate. I have to go find more food. It's crazy." She said she has even tried to get her sons to become a vegan like she is, thinking that would reduce the need to buy expensive meats and poultry. But she said they weren't interested.
Among the grocery items Sinois picked up were cereal, canned vegetables and a frozen turkey breast she was particularly excited about, since it would enable her to serve a Thanksgiving dinner to her boys. "They will eat all this. I'm a vegan, I don't eat this. This is just for them."
More aid in time for holidays
ECLI-Vibes, a nonprofit agency based in Islandia that helps victims of domestic violence, sexual assault and human trafficking, started its own food pantry three years ago, said executive director Jennifer Hernandez.
"We work on people's mental health," Hernandez said. But people can't focus on counseling, she said, "if they are hungry ... We've had parents who don't eat because they are feeding their kids instead."
She said the agency had to limit the number of people they assisted through the food pantry, which is open to its clients and the general public, after seeing a spike in visitors last year. In November 2023, the agency helped 4,359 people, up from 1,288 in November 2022, according to numbers provided by the organization.
Now, the agency accepts about 1,200 people each month. Hernandez said the pantry gets food from both Long Island Cares and Island Harvest. "They are amazing partners of food," she said.
The agency also conducts its own food collection drives and, ahead of Thanksgiving, planned to provide about 200 families with "Blessing Boxes" — baskets filled with canned vegetables, cranberry sauce, stuffing, pasta and pasta sauce and a gift card for a turkey.
Pachter said the food banks have received more government aid, pointing to a $23 million New York State grant to be divided among the state's 10 food banks to meet the need during Thanksgiving, Christmas and the first quarter of the new year. "Long Island Cares got $2 million released in time for the holidays. That gave us a pretty good cushion to know we had the resources to purchase more food," he said.
Dresner, of Island Harvest, also pointed to increased government aid. She said the federal Commodity Supplemental Food Program, distributed through New York State, has upped its funding to the agency, enabling it to double the number of seniors it provides food packages for per month to 8,000. According to a spokesperson, funding for the program went from $467,100 per month to $1,070,696.
On Tuesday, Dresner and Suffolk County Executive Edward Romaine announced a $250,000 grant from the county to Island Harvest for the new "Nourish Suffolk County" program, which will enable the food bank to purchase produce from 10 local farms to bolster the farming community and help county residents in need of food.
"In this program, Island Harvest ... will be able to purchase good, wholesome produce from our friends and our farmers across Long Island and also support our neighbors in need," Dresner said during the announcement at the Sisters of St. Joseph's farm in Brentwood.
Groundswell of participation
As Thanksgiving approaches, Dresner said, "There's an expectation people have about being able to have a holiday meal with their family and friends. We want to be able to help people."
The food bank's 16th annual Bethpage Turkey Drive, held this past Friday in conjunction with the Bethpage Federal Credit Union, has an important role in that effort.
"Number one, they put a lot of resources behind this event," Dresner said. "It gives us a lot of visibility ... Bethpage helps us get the word out." She said that 4,425 turkeys were collected at last year's event, enabling Island Harvest to "get a massive amount of food into the community at an important time of year."
This year, a record-breaking 5,800 turkeys were donated, a spokesperson said.
A food donation being unloaded Friday at the Bethpage drive. Credit: Newsday/Howard Schnapp
The event brings out a groundswell of participation from other corporations, community groups and individuals, said Linda Armyn, the credit union's president and chief executive.
"It has become a real meaningful drive on Long Island, when the communities come together," she said. "We have families who've come for years, Girl Scout and Boy Scout troops ... We have a long list of companies that come with either large monetary gifts [or] truckloads of turkeys."
To donate, visit bethpagefcu.com/community.
Holiday celebrations around LI From house decorations and candy makers to restaurant and theater offerings, NewsdayTV's Elisa DiStefano checks out how Long Islanders are celebrating this holiday season.
Holiday celebrations around LI From house decorations and candy makers to restaurant and theater offerings, NewsdayTV's Elisa DiStefano checks out how Long Islanders are celebrating this holiday season.
