
6
BROOKLYN WEEKLY, APRIL 19, 2020
Food banks in Brooklyn are struggling to keep up with demand. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton
Brooklyn cemeteries struggle to keep up with surge in COVID-19 deaths
This newspaper is not responsible for typographical errors in ads beyond the cost of the space occupied by the error. All rights reserved. Copyright © 2020 by Brooklyn Courier
Life LLC. The content of this newspaper is protected by Federal copyright law. This newspaper, its advertisements, articles, and photographs may not be reproduced, either in
whole or part, without permission in writing from the publisher except brief portions for purposes of review or commentary consistent with the law. Postmaster, send address
changes to Courier Life, One MetroTech Center North, Third Floor, Brooklyn, NY 11201.
BY JESSICA PARKS
Brooklyn’s food pantries
are seeing a jump in distribution
and dwindling supplies
as hundreds more families
rely on their services
amid the current outbreak
of novel coronavirus.
“It has been a tough time
for us as an organization, it
is like we are going into a
new pathway that we have
never been before,” said Dr.
Melony Samuels, founder
and director of The Campaign
against Hunger, a food
pantry in Bedford-Stuyvesant
that provides services
to indigent families across
the borough.
The heightened need for
food services in Brooklyn
follows a surge in borough
residents seeking unemployment
benefi ts. A whopping
87,216 claims were fi led in
Brooklyn within the 14-day
period ending on April 4 —
vastly outweighing the 3,203
claims fi led during the same
period last year, largley due
to bans on non-essential
business operatoins.
Samuels said the number
of families served by her
organization has quadrupled
to include nearly 1,100
individuals per day, while
Thomas Neve, the director of
Reaching-Out Community
Services in Bensonhurst,
said his regular circulation
of 10,500 families has spiked
nearly 30 percent.
Both food pantry directors
said they expect their
numbers will only grow as
orders to stay-at-home and
close non-essential businesses
remain in place —
directives that could force
more businesses to shutter
permanently or lay off additional
staff.
“It is defi nitely going to
come up because this is not
something that is going to
go away over the weekend,”
Neve said. “This is going to
be a while.”
Despite the increase in
demand, both organizations
have not had to turn away
any families due to lack of
supplies, something both
Neve and Samuels said has
taken extraordinary effort
on the behalf of their volunteers
and staff.
“We are constantly fundraising,
asking friends and
individuals to donate and
we take that money and we
buy food,” Samuels said.
Donations from businesses
and the surrounding
community have also helped
fuel the continuing operation
of the food services, the
directors said.
“We have received donations
from some of the residents
in Brooklyn. Some
corporations have come
alongside,” Samuels said.
“National Grid helped us get
bags, Con Edison gave us a
donation, FreshDirect has
been giving us food.”
Still, both food pantries
are experiencing a rise in
operational costs as food
shortages require more purchases
and the the infl ux of
families necessitates more
staff.
“We have hired for the
mass production, which is
something we did not plan
for,” Samuels said. “We
hired staff because we can’t
ask staff to do four times the
amount of work.”
To compensate for the increased
spending at Reaching
Out, Neve said he has
had to dip into his organization’s
reserves — something
he fears could cause problems
for operations once the
crisis comes to a close.
“Will we crash out when
this over because right
now we are depleting all of
our resources?” Neve said.
“Then what?”
In the meantime, both
pantries have moved food
distribution into more open
areas — either outside or
into their lobby — and have
modifi ed operations to keep
patrons six-feet apart and
protect staffers.
“We have turned our
benefi t offi ce’s lobby area
into a distribution center,”
Samuels said. “We have put
up tents and they come in, go
under the tent and take from
different food areas and we
have pre-packaged bags for
families of four.”
But through it all, Samuels
and Neve said the support
they receive from their
community in times of crisis
pushes them to continue
their hard work.
“Even though they are
not with us, they are encouraging
us with our donations,”
Samuels said. “It
makes me feel like you are
not alone in this, like we are
not taking this on by ourselves.
”
BY KEVIN DUGGAN
Brooklyn’s cemeteries are
grappling with the substantial
increase in deaths due to the
COVID-19 pandemic, and struggling
to accommodate the infl ux
of burials and cremations.
“Cremations have more than
doubled, and it just reached the
point where we had to put a cap
on how many bodies we receive
every day,” said Eric Barna, the
vice president of operations of
Green-Wood Cemetery.
The landmark Fifth Avenue
cemetery has limited the
amount of cremations to around
20 per day due to their limited
space capacity for the deceased
remains.
Likewise, burials have gone
up signifi cantly in recent days,
with 15 interments on April 9,
compared to their usual two or
three per day, said Barna.
With the climbing death
count and increasing infection
rates, Catholic cemeteries and
graveyards have also taken additional
safety measures, according
to John Quaglione, a
spokesman for the Diocese of
Brooklyn.
The religious organization
is limiting the number of attendants
at graveside ceremonies
to 10 people, in accordance with
a statewide order — but Quaglione
noted that this has left larger
families with hard choices, unimaginable
just weeks ago.
“If you’re the 11th person in
the family, or if it’s just a friend
of yours, or a neighbor, you
can’t go,” he said. “Those are all
tough personal and family decisions
we have to make until this
curve is fl attened.”
Green-Wood Cemetery has experienced a surge in burials and cremations.
Wikimedia Commons
Food pantries see rising
need, dwindling supplies