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May 15-21, 2020
ALSO SERVING PROSPECT HEIGHTS, WINDSOR TERRACE, KENSINGTON, AND GOWANUS
Workers package food at a RiseBoro facility. RiseBoro Community Partnerships
FOODING THE BILL
Meal delivery programs see spike in demand, fl at rate of funding
BY BEN VERDE
They need a jump start!
Services that deliver meals
to homebound seniors have
seen a spike in demand under
the state’s stay-at-home order,
as elderly New Yorkers seek
safe ways to stay fed without
venturing outside. But, with
limited resources and no funding
increase on the horizon, it
is getting increasingly diffi cult
for many to meet demand.
“We’ve seen close to a 20 percent
increase in the past seven
weeks,” Todd Fliedner, deputy
executive director of the Bay
Ridge Center, told Brooklyn
Paper. “This is a trend we just
see as continuing.”
Programs like Fliender’s
often held congregate meals
in senior centers prior to the
coronavirus pandemic, but
have shifted to delivery-only as
those they serve hunker down
inside — many of whom were
offered a citywide meal service
run by the Department of
Aging. But, program directors
say, many of the city’s seniors
prefer the local, non-profi t
run meal services, because
they fi nd their specifi c dietary
needs are met and deliveries
are more reliable.
“If they have one client who
is say, a vegetarian, and also
has trouble chewing their food,
a local organization is able to
respond to that and make sure
they receive their food,” said
Tara Klein, a policy analyst at
United Neighborhood Houses,
who said that the larger-scale
meal programs tend to be more
of a “one-size-fi ts-all” operation.
To boot, seniors who
switched over to the citywide
service in the early days
Continued on page 10
Lifeline
Community org
offers cash to
hourly workers
BY KEVIN DUGGAN
The Brooklyn Heights Association
has launched a relief
fund to give cash grants to the
area’s struggling hourly workers
who have suffered income
or job loss due to the novel coronavirus
pandemic, according
to the group’s leader.
“Brooklyn Heights is more
than the people who live here,
it’s also the people who work
here — and we have come together
to support them now,”
said executive director Lara
Birnback.
The civic group’s initiative,
called “Brooklyn Heights
Together,” will provide onetime
$250 cash grants to workers
formerly employed in the
brownstone neighborhood to
help ensure they can still afford
their essentials — such as
groceries, medication, or utility
bills.
The cash stipends will go
to people who worked in deliveries,
restaurant kitchens, salons,
and store clerks, among
others — many of whom are
immigrant or refugee workers
that may be unable to access
governmental assistance, but
are a vital part of the community
nonetheless, said Birnback.
Continued on page 10
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