People that are Hungry in New York

By: Emma M.

 

 

When you are hungry you just get up and get a snack, right? Or maybe you have to wait for dinner. Imagine you have to wait hours or days to get a meal. In New York there are about two million people who don’t have enough food. There are so many people who can’t afford meals. That is extremely sad. Many people don’t realize that there are so many people that are hungry in New York. Most people who live in New York normally have an okay life, but there is a huge amount of people who have nearly no food.

            Families that are struggling with money are normally the worst off. Since these parents are trying hard to make good lives for their kids they normally eat less food so their kids can have something to eat. Even worse, grandparents and older people have to decide whether they want to spend their little money on medicine or food. That is a pretty bad situation. Then there are kids. The rate of kids that are hungry has gone way up lately. There are 685,500 kids who need more food. Children's bodies are still growing, so food is necessary. 39,000 children that live in Manhattan go to bed hungry. Of course, the parents are trying to help, but the kids could still be hungry. Families or people with children are struggling because they have so many little mouths to feed, but they have to remember they also have themselves to feed.

            As we know, Covid has not been good for anyone, but it has really made it worse for the people that are already hungry. The stay at home orders and requirements for social distancing have made getting food much more difficult. Some people used to go to Mosques (they are like churches) to get food, or it would be a place that poor people could go to, but since Covid they have not been able to utilize that. One major effect that Covid has had on people that already struggle to get food is that the rate of people without food has gone up. Prior to the Pandemic 1.2 million people were having difficult times with getting food, but now there are about 2 million people who can’t afford food. Getting jobs is also hard now that Covid has happened. The food industry was a great way people could make money and then get food, but since the Pandemic, 234,000 people have lost their jobs at restaurants.  Tens of millions of people have lost their jobs, so now 13.1 million people are not able to get food. Stores shut down for a little while and people just went remote. So that has also made a difference on how people get something to eat.

            Lots of people are getting free meals. In July, about 11% of New Yorkers were getting free meals. 29.4 million kids are getting free meals at school. There are one out of fifteen kids who don’t have after school meals and snacks also. Many people's life line is in food pantries. Since the pandemic, tens of thousands of people go to food pantries. It is amazing how many people can gain food, but what about the people who don’t have food pantries or places they can go near them? We can still help them and make a difference in those people’s lives.

            There are tons of people trying to help, but there are also some mayors and the governor trying to help. Many people wrote a letter to governor Cuomo about this problem. They talked about the numbers increasing and how people are trying to help themselves. The fact that people are reaching out to the governor and mayors just says one thing about how huge of a problem this is. Mayor Bill de Blasio, the mayor of New York City, says, “I fear the number is going to be around 2 million New Yorkers who are food insecure as this crisis deepens, and that's a horrifying number.” There are about 1.2 million people in New York City who need food. 1.2 million people! Just in New York City! That is huge; just imagine being in that position and not being able to eat for a while or eating very little. Over 330,000 children in New York are hungry. It is great that he is trying to help.

People are starting to realize what a big problem this is. I mean, people have known about this for a while, but Covid has probably deepened that realization. A program called SNAP is also trying to help. They help kids get food and also adults. The Federal Nutrition programs are trying to help as well. These people have made a difference, but sadly there are still people that have barely any food. We can help though. It is not like there aren’t already people who are helping, and it is not like we have no hope at all; the more donations and more soup kitchens the better.

 There's almost two million people in New York without food. There are parents who skip meals for their kids and sometimes the kids go to bed hungry. It gets really bad when it comes to older people who need medicine and food. With help these people can get back on their feet, and with the help of the governors, mayors, food pantries and soup kitchens, we can turn this around and make everyone go to bed safe and full of food.