East Village campaign to save SNAP benefits
BY GABE HERMAN
Community groups and volunteers
gathered in Manhattan’s
East Village on Monday to mark
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day with a
Community Resource Fair and to inform
people about upcoming work requirement
changes to the SNAP food assistance
program that may affect peoples’
eligibility.
The free event, at 611 East 13th St.,
was sponsored by Hunger Free America,
a nationwide hunger advocacy and food
service group.
Dozens of volunteers arrived in the
morning before heading out to canvass
in the neighborhood, including at local
NYCHA buildings, to spread the word
about changes by the Trump Administration
to the Supplemental Nutrition
Assistance Program (SNAP), which are
set to go into effect on April 1.
The new United States Department
of Agriculture (USDA) rules eliminate
exemptions or waivers for able-bodied
adults without dependents (ABAWD),
who have a three-month limit of SNAP
benefits if they are unemployed. Until
now, states had the ability to make exemptions
based on factors in the local
economy and labor markets.
State Attorney General Letitia James
co-filed a lawsuit on Jan. 16 along with
the Washington, D.C. Attorney General,
and joined by 13 other AG’s, to stop the
PHOTO BY GABE HERMAN
Joel Berg, CEO of Hunger Free America, speaking to volunteers at the
Monday event.
United Church of Christ celebrates MLK Day
BY TEQUILA MINSKY
The Metropolitan Association
of the United Church of
Christ (UCC) presented “The
Creation of a Dream: A Service for
Martin Luther King Day,” with
guest speaker Rev. Shernell J. Edna
rule. The new rules would prevent about
700,000 Americans from getting SNAP
benefits, including over 50,000 people
in New York City, according to James.
Over 1.5 million NYC residents rely
on SNAP, according to Hunger Free
America, and hundreds of thousands
more are eligible for the benefits but
don’t receive them.
“We’re all together here in the spirit
of service in Dr. King’s name,” said Joel
Berg, CEO of Hunger Free America, to
the dozens of volunteers before they left
to canvass the East Village.
Stilley. The NY Metropolitan Association
of the UCC Social Justice
Berg spoke of poverty being a big
problem in America. “We’re the only
industrialized nation on the planet that
has this level of poverty and hunger,”
he said.
He said an instructive quote from Dr.
King for the occasion was, “What does
it profit a man to be able to eat at an integrated
lunch counter if he doesn’t have
enough money to buy a hamburger?”
Over a million people in the city are
struggling to afford food, Berg said, and
cited the high rate of homelessness in
the city, which goes beyond those in the
Committee helped plan the service.
The NY Metropolitan Association
streets to roughly 60,000 people staying
in shelters. This is despite billionaires
living in the city and the high stock
market, he said.
“Dr. King would not have settled for
what we are doing today,” Berg said.
Tables at the Resource Fair included
Harlem Empowerment Project, offering
services like career counseling, English
classes and help obtaining a high school
diploma.
At another table, Center For Independence
of the Disabled, New York
(CIDNY) recruited people to become
a Long Term Care Ombudsman, which
only has about half of its needed positions
filled in the city.
Others at the fair included the NYC
Commission on Human Rights and
ImmSchools, an immigrant-led nonprofit
that supports undocumented K-12
students and their families.
After speaking to the group of volunteers,
Berg said that the goal was to
prepare people for the possible upcoming
changes to SNAP. This is the second
year of the Resources Fair, and the 18th
year of Hunger Free America’s MLK
Serve-a-Thon.
“The LES has been gentrified a lot,
but there still a lot of people in lower
income housing that haven’t been
kicked out yet,” said Berg. “There’s
still a lot of people living here who
are struggling.”
of UCC choir was integral in the
service.
PHOTOS BY TEQUILA MINSKY
Rev. Shernell J. Edney Stilley
(right) wraps up the MLK Day service
at Judson in song. She also
interpreted for our time a reflection
entitled: The Creation of a
Dream.
The MLK Day service at Judson Memorial Church with The Metropolitan Association Choir of UCC, with
maestro Elmer L. Hammond Jr. on piano.
Schneps Media January 23, 2020 15