New York food banks have become inundated with newcomers deprived of income since the near-total halt of business in the city.
Sacks of oranges, sweet potatoes and onions are spread over three tables at an open-air market in Washington Heights, a neighborhood in the north of Manhattan. Sterilized milk and cans of tuna and salmon cover three others. Hundreds of people came over the weekend to restock at the distribution center, one of many run by City Harvest, a major New York-based charity.
There are no long lines reminiscent of the soup kitchens of the 1930s. Instead, people trickle in, often wearing masks for protection and keeping their distance from each other under the direction of market volunteers.
Photo: AFP
Among the customers is Lina Alba, 40, a single mother with five children aged 11 to 23. She worked as a maid in a Manhattan hotel until it closed two weeks ago.
Her two oldest children also lost their jobs.
“It is my first time,” she said. “We need the help now. This is crazy. So we don’t know what’s gonna happen in a few weeks.”
She’s trying to stay positive, though.
“At least I’m spending time with my kids... I am the teacher, I am the mom — I am everything,” she said. “We are alive, we are healthy, we just need to pray.”
It took the single mother a week to register for unemployment as the service flooded. The benefits should start arriving in three weeks.
Alba also hopes to receive at least US$1,200 from the federal government, thanks to a historic aid package passed last week by the US Congress.
“It’s not gonna be enough,” but “you’re gonna appreciate anything right now,” she said, adding that “a lot of people” need help.
Jose Neri, 51, is one of many Hispanic employees who worked in now-closed New York restaurants. He also came to a food bank for the first time. There are five people in his family.
“We’re using our savings to survive,” he said in Spanish, wearing a mask and gloves. “We’ve got what we need to hold it together for now.”
City Harvest employee Geraldine Fermin has heard stories like this a lot since most New York City business closed down two weeks ago.
“It’s heartbreaking that it has to be like that for a lot of people,” Fermin said. “People that were poor are now poorer, and people that had decent jobs, that could get by, now are poor too.”
“Before, there were 1.2 million people in New York who needed help for food. Now, there are three times as many, that’s more than 3 million New Yorkers,” City Harvest vice president Eric Ripert said.
Speaking in French, Ripert said that City Harvest, which also supplies food to about 400 homeless shelters, does not currently have any supply problems.
However, it needs funds to buy more food and is teaming up with other organizations to create a united front against “a situation that will get worse.”
“We got through Sept. 11, the great recession of 2008-2009, we got through a lot of things, but none of that is comparable to this catastrophe we’re living through,” he said.
Seven people sustained mostly minor injuries in an airplane fire in South Korea, authorities said yesterday, with local media suggesting the blaze might have been caused by a portable battery stored in the overhead bin. The Air Busan plane, an Airbus A321, was set to fly to Hong Kong from Gimhae International Airport in southeastern Busan, but caught fire in the rear section on Tuesday night, the South Korean Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said. A total of 169 passengers and seven flight attendants and staff were evacuated down inflatable slides, it said. Authorities initially reported three injuries, but revised the number
‘BALD-FACED LIE’: The woman is accused of administering non-prescribed drugs to the one-year-old and filmed the toddler’s distress to solicit donations online A social media influencer accused of filming the torture of her baby to gain money allegedly manufactured symptoms causing the toddler to have brain surgery, a magistrate has heard. The 34-year-old Queensland woman is charged with torturing an infant and posting videos of the little girl online to build a social media following and solicit donations. A decision on her bail application in a Brisbane court was yesterday postponed after the magistrate opted to take more time before making a decision in an effort “not to be overwhelmed” by the nature of allegations “so offensive to right-thinking people.” The Sunshine Coast woman —
BORDER SERVICES: With the US-funded International Rescue Committee telling clinics to shut by tomorrow, Burmese refugees face sudden discharge from Thai hospitals Healthcare centers serving tens of thousands of refugees on the Thai-Myanmar border have been ordered shut after US President Donald Trump froze most foreign aid last week, forcing Thai officials to transport the sickest patients to other facilities. The International Rescue Committee (IRC), which funds the clinics with US support, told the facilities to shut by tomorrow, a local official and two camp committee members said. The IRC did not respond to a request for comment. Trump last week paused development assistance from the US Agency for International Development for 90 days to assess compatibility with his “America First” policy. The freeze has thrown
TESTING BAN: Satellite photos show a facility in the Chinese city of Mianyang that could aid nuclear weapons design and power generation, a US researcher said China appears to be building a large laser-ignited fusion research center in the southwestern city of Mianyang, experts at two analytical organizations said, a development that could aid nuclear weapons design and work exploring power generation. Satellite photos show four outlying “arms” that would house laser bays, and a central experiment bay that would hold a target chamber containing hydrogen isotopes the powerful lasers would fuse together, producing energy, said Decker Eveleth, a researcher at US-based independent research organization CNA Corp. It is a similar layout to the US$3.5 billion US National Ignition Facility (NIF) in northern California, which in 2022 generated
RSS