Providing Meals to Most in Need Amidst COVID-19
Local non-profi ts scramble to continue their mission of feeding vulnerable New Yorkers
BY MATT TRACY
As Governor Andrew
Cuomo implements
tight restrictions on
non-essential services
in New York, several critical-mission
social service organizations
are working through the coronavirus
crisis to continue providing
food services to those in need.
Some agencies have altered
their food distribution operation
in an effort to limit the spread of
coronavirus. Below is an outline
of several organizations’ food service
offerings as of the afternoon of
March 20.
Citymeals:Citymeals, which
delivers more than two million
weekend, holiday, and emergency
meals to more than 18,000 vulnerable
seniors every year, stated
that the “city’s home-delivered
meal programs continue at this
time which Citymeals supports
on the weekends, holidays, and in
times of emergency.” Citymeals is
preparing 200,000 extra meals to
absorb the impact of more seniors
being homebound during the coronavirus
crisis.
citymeals.org
Gay Men’s Health Crisis: On
March 18, GMHC said the organization
was weighing food distribution
options that included mailing
out supermarket gift cards and delivering
meals to clients’ homes.
For the week prior to that, the
agency — which in a typical year
serves more than 80,000 clients
Hetrick-Martin Institute representatives are seen March 20 distributing food to LGBTQ youth in need.
in a meal program that includes
lunch Monday to Thursday and
dinner on Friday, distributed nearly
1,600 meals in frozen fi ve-meal
packets to clients who stopped by
its West 38th Street headquarters,
which is now closed.
Kelsey Louie, GMHC’s CEO,
said, “With a sense of urgency, we
are planning out our best options
to further serve our food-insecure
clients. This planning will entail
surverying our clients who are in
most need and frequently utliize
our food pantry and meals programs….
In our 38th year, GMHC
➤ SHELTERING YOUTH, from p.8
Marsha’s House, a shelter operated by Project
Renewal that serves older LGBTQ youth, as a
location where it can be diffi cult to gain access
in the fi rst place because potential residents are
required to fi rst seek beds at city-run shelters
before they are transferred to Marsha’s Place.
“So that means they have to go to an unsafe
place to get transferred to the safe place,” she
said. “Some clients will not do that.”
The wide-scale shutdown of organizations
has affected homeless youth who are accustomed
to receiving meals and toiletry supplies.
Barnhart received calls from transgender clients
HMI
is not new to addressing an epidemic.”
When asked on March 20 if any
further decisions had been made, a
spokesperson said that the March
18 update is “where we are.”
gmhc.org
God’s Love We Deliver: GLWD
— which traditionally delivers
8,000 meals each weekday or a
total of 2.1 million a year — has
gradually shifted is operational
procedures in reponse to the growing
COVID-19 crisis.
At the end of last week, the group
alerted its volunteers — who number
on March 23 who said they were hungry
and needed toilet paper, so Barnhart has been
driving around the Bronx with plates of food as
part of what she says is a “grassroots effort” to
serve those in need.
The problems facing vulnerable populations
are growing at a time when the coronavirus
outbreak has spiraled out of control across the
fi ve boroughs.
There are more than 31,000 confi rmed cases
in the state, and those numbers are likely signifi
cantly lower than the actual caseload because
countless individuals have been unable
to get tested for COVID-19.
Hospitals have become desperate for help and
FOOD INSECURITY
roughly 16,500 and donate
145,000 hours annually, saving
the agency more than $2 million
— not to show up for their shifts
if they were feeling ill. The group
also altered its delivery protocols
to ensure that drivers were wearing
protective gloves and avoiding
direct contact with clients, though
they were encouraged to say hello
and check in with them from a safe
distance.
As the impact of the coronavirus
has deepened, GLWD has shifted
to providing clients with shelf-stable
meal bags providing enough
food for a week.
Given the changing conditions
on the ground for every institution
around the city and the nation,
the agency said it was unable to
provide more specifi c details on its
operation and plans going forward,
explaining, “We would not want to
give you information that could
possibly change by day’s end.”
glwd.org
Hetrick-Martin Institute: The
Cooper Square agency — which
provides more than 11,000 hot
meals a year to its LGBTQ youth
clientele, more than 20 percent of
whom cite the need for food as a
primary reason for visiting HMI —
has replaced its hot meal program
with an on-site distribution effort
offering groceries, meals-to-go,
and shelf-stable food on Tuesdays
and Fridays from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.
Toiletries and menstrual hygiene
are also be supplied.
hmi.org.
medical supplies, including ventilators and personal
protective equipment, in what has become
a race against time. It is anticipated that hospitals
will be further overwhelmed in the coming
weeks as cases continue to grow beyond capacity,
prompting offi cials to prepare surge hospitals
and invite retired medical professionals to
offer their services.
The increased need for medical assistance in
the coming weeks will undoubtedly be accompanied
by the need for extra support services —
and those who are working to serve vulnerable
populations know that the crisis will continue
to present new challenges ahead.
“We’re really in a crunch,” Barnhart said.
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/glwd.org
/gmhc.org
/citymeals.org
/hmi.org
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