By Scott Etkin
During the height of the COVID pandemic, food pantries and hot-meal distribution programs on the Upper West Side experienced a rush of new people in need.
More than five years later, the number of people who rely on these programs to get by remains greatly elevated compared with 2019’s pre-pandemic levels.
“2024 was our busiest year on record,” said Greg Silverman, CEO and executive director of the West Side Campaign Against Hunger (WSCAH), a nonprofit that distributes food to almost 30 sites across the city. As an example, Silverman said, St. Paul and St. Andrew United Methodist Church on West 86th Street, WSCAH’s largest distribution site, was serving roughly 200 families a day in 2019; by last year, that number had tripled, to 600.
Cathedral Community Cares (CCC), based out of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine on West 110th Street, said the pre-pandemic era numbers of people seeking aid there have also continued to go up, not down. On a typical Sunday, the program serves approximately “three times as many people” now compared to 2019, said Vanessa Greco, CCC’s outreach and volunteer coordinator.
Nonprofits say the influx of immigrants to New York City over the past few years is a main factor in the increase, though they aren’t necessarily living on the Upper West Side. It’s common for people to commute from all boroughs to visit WSCAH and CCC, according to the program heads.
While the need has grown, funding for these programs has not kept pace with that growth, Greco said. “The people go up, the grant money stays the same. That’s where the issue is.”
CCC relies primarily on federal and state grants from United Way and City Harvest, but those grants do not cover all program needs. “[We] blow through it in a heartbeat,” said Greco. The gap is filled with in-kind donations, including leftover food from local businesses and shelf-stable items from the Food Bank for New York City.
Donated food accounts for a third of the six million pounds of food that WSCAH distributes each year. Silverman stressed the importance of government funds for supporting food distribution programs on a large scale. “You can’t feed a city on donated food,” he said.
And even more people could come to rely on pantry and meal programs like WSCAH and CCC if the Trump administration succeeds in its proposed budget cuts to SNAP, the food stipend to low-income people. Roughly one in eight Americans use SNAP benefits.
“When you start restricting SNAP, you start restricting the amount of dollars in respect to local grocery stores, and bodegas, and food stands, and that leads to less business,” Silverman said.
Decisions about New York City’s budget also have an impact on local food programs. An important source of funding for more than 700 community kitchens and pantries in the city is Community Food Connection, formerly known as the Emergency Food Assistance Program. The CFC’s funding from the city government has remained at approximately $60 million per year since 2022, and will continue at this level in the city’s fiscal year 2026 budget, Mayor Adams recently announced.
WSCAH and several of the city’s other largest nonprofits, such as City Harvest and the Food Bank for New York City, had called for an increase in funding for CFC to $100 million.
“A budget is a moral document,” said Silverman. “Hungry people are not what’s a priority for our government, and that’s a sad statement.”
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Maybe the location at 86 and WEA is no longer ideal for this program. It’s straining the neighborhood, especially if many of the needy commute there from elsewhere. Yes there is a need, but maybe this location has reached it’s tipping point
Agreed. The corner is very crowded with cars double parked (it’s a differnt issue that people who come to get food can somehow afford a car/insurance/registration/gas/tolls/etc.) and long lines snaking around the block.
Yes, commuting all the way from Venezuela
“Pre-pandemic”, seriously? Not “post open borders/sanctuary city welcome”?
“The people go up, the grant money stays the same. That’s where the issue is.”
Not really. The real issue is why “the people go up”. Are we supposed to continue feeding migrants for no reason?
What reason do you need to not let people starve? “are there no prisons? Are there no workhouses. Better let them die and decrease the surplus population.”
Wrong headline.
“Pre-pandemic”? Not “post open borders/sanctuary city welcome”?
Your math is incorrect. They’re saying pre-pandemic need has tripled, if it makes you feel better you can say it’s tripled because post open borders / sanctuary city welcome.
I’m all for feeding those in need. But I’m wondering if there is any proof of need. If I was needy during the pandemic and started getting food fhere why wouldn’t I just continue and use any money I now earn for other things?
Each new customer at WSCAH goes through an intake and their situation is assessed so true help can be offered.
No one wants to have to show up in public and be given food. Would you really want to? People want to support their own families, not ask for help. Our elderly are stretched with small benefits. Believe me, the need is true. I understand your question, but try to reframe how you see it. I think you will grow to understand that the city’s poor are growing and truly need the community’s and government’s help. No one wants to put their hand out.
sorry to see these uncompassionate posts.
what’s uncompassionate about saying we can’t feed all the world’s hungry people?
this is all due to the 230,000 migrants that the city has adopted in the last few years .
It is not all due to migrants. Lack of affordable housing, unemployment, high cost of food and medical care, CUTTING of services which support our most vulnerable. NOT only migrants. People are struggling. I wish people would take a moment to have compassion for our fellow New Yorkers. And wouldn’t it be great if we COULD feed the world’s hungry? I can’t imagine anything worse than not having food, especially for my family.
Wait – you forgot to rail against the obese, who eat more than their fair share; women who have the audacity to have children and then want to feed them (who are these selfish women, right?); the elderly who didn’t just let COVID kill them to save the economy; and gay and trans people who don’t deserve to live. Did I leave out any right-wing targets?
I am all for helping those who do everything they can and still need help, however we have plenty of poor people here, why not help Americans first? Immigration leads to higher rents and lower wages. Also, there are plenty of people on UWS who choose to be on the dole since the benefits are so generous, it is more attractive to get Medicaid, subsidized housing, food stamps, et all and work for cash than to work on the books, pay taxes and not get Medicaid et all.
Where did you get the idea (or invent it) that WSCAH provides food only to immigrants? There are plenty of poor Americans, many living on the UWS, including the elderly and working families. The organization does not discriminate.
It is very disheartening how ugly rhetoric towards migrants and the needy has become. I’m glad there are still many institutions helping these folks despite the challenging environment.
There but for the grace of God go I.
The people who controlled Biden, let millions of illegals in this country. The majority of Americans realize this must be fixed. Gathering places for illegals will be targeted by IICE , many of them will self deport once you cut off free stuff.
More hate filled rhetoric from the party of family values.
I bet Tom Homan can fix the problem in an hour.
Really tired of this right-wing propaganda. Take your big mouth somewhere else.
I’m all for helping the poor and I do. However, I can’t have my taxes constantly raised to feed the whole world that was waved in in the last couple of years. Not to mention some of those new arrivals came specifically for handouts.
You know the tax breaks you get every year? Those are handouts. You don’t deserve that ‘help’ either but your ilk sure have manipulated the tax code such that you get handed billions for contributing nothing material! Shut up and pretend to be happy ‘helping the poor’ instead of dog whistling maybe?
A tax break lets you keep your own money. That’s very different from a handout, which gives you someone else’s money.
The demonization of immigrants is very American. Chinese built much of the railroad tracks, African-American forced immigrants built our agriculture and cotton industries, the Irish were targets of much anger, 4.5 million Italians escaped poverty and terrible living conditions and now number 14.5 million Americans. Feeding the hungry is a tithe that comfortable Americans should pay. As an upper west sider for most of my life, seeing the “bread lines” on the corner of WEA and 86 is ample evidence of need. WSCAH does good every day for people who would otherwise not eat very well or at all.
So nasty.
Really believe someone would leave their home and family behind, cross borders and face the likes of you, just to come get free squash on 86th St.?
Come on
Well, that is exactly what is happening, so, yes.
Of course not for free squash. But for free hotel rooms, prepaid debit cards, free medical care and many other benefits that the citizens struggle for.
The heartless, xenophobic comments here shock me.
I’m willing to bet that of us folks here in the comments section, the majority of our families immigrated here to America at some point in time, and arrived with little money and would have been grateful for a program like this to get healthy food. I know that’s how my family came to America – they arrived as refugees just like the folks now from central and south America.
The immigration policies of today that mark people as “illegal” didn’t apply to many of our grandparents and great grandparents (especially if you are white) – much of these policies (including ICE) were formed post-911. I’m sure that my family, desperate and escaping the Armenian and Greek genocide, would have done anything to get to New York. As any family trying to survive would.
Furthermore, the wealth gap is ever increasing here in NYC. Assuming that people coming for food are undocumented immigrants is incorrect. There also also plenty of citizens and documented people struggling to make ends meet.
Show some compassion. You are living in a nice apartment, in the wealthiest city in the world, with nice furniture, with food in the fridge. We can afford to feed people in need and make space for them as they wait in line in our neighborhoods. After all, immigrants are the heart of New Yorker.
My mother and her family came here from Lithuania in the early 20th century. I am the daughter of an immigrant. Immigrants, like all human beings, have value and should be honored and respected.
Zohran shoud propose a tax on restaurant food and takeout. If you are privileged enough to be able to afford to eat out then surely you can shell out a little more to build out our food insecurity infrastructure.
Do you mean an additional tax? One already pays a tax on restaurant dining.
Yes, absolutely. Drivers pay congestion pricing on top of the taxes, fees and tolls already associated with car ownership, so why not diners? Those who don’t want to pay can simply make their own food and dine at home.
The NIMBYism and disregard for those in need displayed in some of these comments is shameful. Would have expected better from my fellow UWS’ers. Rather than feeling inconvenienced by those in need, maybe examine your privilege and practice empathy toward those who have so much less than you do.
I am heartbroken and, to be honest, shocked by some of the cruel messages here. No one should go hungry in this wealthy city, no matter who they are. That is basic compassion. But in addition, the assumption that all of those (or even most of those) at food banks are immigrants is wrong and irrelevant. Here is an article in today’s NYT that also notes that 60% of those relying on food banks have jobs—and still cannot afford to live in this city. Many are seniors. Have you ever volunteered at a food pantry? Try it someday. These folks aren’t grifters and slackers; they’re desperate. Truly, for shame, people. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/22/nyregion/nyc-food-banks-cuts.html?unlocked_article_code=1.Q08.9ZbU.B8QEXcWDkbxN&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
Please let us think and remember. It is not only due to recent immigrants (although providing food to those in need is just ethical in any religion or moral bent.. no-one should starve in this country.) There are many people in our neighborhood who are embarrassed but cannot afford anymore, given these prices. Think of that person who works two minimum wage jobs with three kids. Think of the elderly trying to survive only on SS pittance. It is cruel and unamerican to defund these programs.
Funny how immigrants are characterized as criminals and freeloaders. Meanwhile Trumpsters and MAGA have no problem with billionaires and millionaires who pay next to no or no taxes; who bankrupt companies and see employees lose jobs, health care, pensions and the like while they walk away with golden parachutes $$$$$. And no problem with Trump being a grifter who continues to make money via sales of all kinds of items; a clear conflict of interest. Yea, no problem with a convicted felon, grifter and all around sociopath who has no problem cutting funds to those who need it while padding the pockets of the rich. Yea, y’all have no problem with rich people taking your tax dollars but oh, my, not an immigrant…even though pretty much all of us are here via immigrant relatives in the family unless you are Native American or born here before our country was founded. Funny how some people think they are better than others and are so busy judging when they don’t know the circumstances. FYI: You can have a job and a car and still not make enough to pay for housing and feed your family. The biggest people on the dole these days? The president and his cadre of Republican cowards in the Senate and Congress who have no morals, ethics or scruples.