Local food banks having trouble meeting need during COVID pandemic

Workers at City Harvest say that meeting New York City’s incredibly hunger demand means sourcing more food.

“COVID has made a lot of restaurants and companies close down where many people have lost their jobs. With that being said, we do see a lot of people on our lines where the demand has increased,” Racine Droz, Director of Donor Relations and Supply Chain Management tells Fox 5.

The city’s largest food rescue organization will deliver a record one hundred and nine million pounds of food this year to pantries and soup kitchens.

Unfortunately, City Harvest says the numbers won’t be leveling off anytime soon.

Food insecurity is actually projected to rise by forty-percent because of economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.

“It’s growing every day so we’re just trying our best to make sure we continue to source more food and that we’re working with other partners,” Droz adds.

The non-profit has brought in more staff to help with repacking operations and is also doing more direct deliveries, but it also relies on help from city-based programs and generous donations.

“Unlike other disasters that happened, that are usually consolidated in one area, COVID-19 is not that way. It’s a global epidemic so it’s impacted all of the five boroughs,” Droz says.