West Side Canvas: An UWS Basement Garden Helping to Nourish Vulnerable Neighbors

Essay and painting by Robert Beck

The people in this painting are filling a gap. I’m in the 86th Street storage and packing area in the basement of St. Paul & St. Andrew Church near West End Avenue.

West Side Campaign Against Hunger (WSCAH) volunteers are loading bags with fresh carrots, potatoes, bananas, apples, and more for the people lined up outside in front of the church. The bags will be carted up to street-level and distributed in orderly fashion by more volunteers.

Once a month, the recipients get four days’ worth of healthy foods to help them meet a minimum level of nutrition. Four days a month make a big difference in bolstering nourishment for vulnerable households.

Three shifts of volunteers come to the church every day to be part of a network distributing five million pounds of food, more than half of which is fruit and vegetables. Not to feed everybody — they can’t do that — but to close the nutritional gap that affects the physical and mental health of our communities.

Half of NYC households…HALF…are earning below the cost of living. They aren’t making enough to meet their bills. Rent, medication, and other non-negotiable expenses compromise the amount and quality of the food they prepare for their families. When there isn’t enough money, nourishment suffers.

A few realities. New York City’s poverty rate went from 23% to 25% this year. That’s an extra 100,000 people. One in three adults and nearly half of families with children experience food insecurity. One in five kids is at risk of not having enough to eat.

There are those who read those statistics, jab their finger in the air, and say, “People need to take responsibility for their decisions,” and there are those who say, “We have to help our neighbors get decent food before they get sick and it becomes a bigger concern.”  That last group is the one I want to be around.

Most of the families served by WSCAH have jobs, but that’s not always enough. I’ve run close to the edge in my life, and it’s clear that nobody is immune from a twist of fate that puts them over that line, on the wrong side, on the outside, with no way to claw back without help.

I finished my painting just as the shift ended. Two of the women who were working on the line came over to see what I was doing, tucked back in the boxes of produce. They smiled and laughed to see themselves in the image. Then they put on their coats and left as other volunteers filtered in.

WSCAH does other things to help people in need, but the word hunger is in their name. They put dignity at the center of their mission. Insecurity is everywhere you turn these days. The loss of government support for the established civilities that keep us safe and unworried is felt by many. But the tone in the church basement is one of purpose. People working together. People helping their neighbors. That’s the primary ingredient in a healthy community.

The elevator was full of large carts of food, but the guy moving them told me to squeeze in with my easel and bag. When I got to the next floor, there he was. He had run up the stairs to be there when the door opened to help me out.

* * *

See more of Robert Beck’s work and visit his UWS studio at www.robertbeck.net. Let him know if you have a connection to an archetypical UWS place or event that would make a good West Side Canvas subject. Thank you!

Note: Before Robert Beck started West Side Canvas, his essays and paintings were featured in Weekend Column. See Robert Beck’s earlier columns here and here.

Subscribe to West Side Rag’s FREE email newsletter here. And you can Support the Rag here.