SYRACUSE -- Senator Kirsten Gillibrand has released an astonishing report on the state of hunger in New York. According to statistics obtained by her staff, 800,000 New York households are "food insecure", meaning they don't know where their next meal will come from. The report says there are 50,000 such households in the eight counties of Central New York. That would roughly equal the population within the City of Syracuse.
Gillibrand is using the report to promote legislation that would require the federal government to double its support for emergency food programs along with a series of tax incentives designed to increase private donations to food banks.
The Food Bank of Central New York warehouses tons of food for distribution to 585 food programs in 11 counties. Beth Slater has seen demand for food grow as the economy and unemployment worsened. But she says when things got worse, generosity got better. "We live in a really great community where everybody is stepping up"
Michael Cronk of Syracuse is considered "food insecure". Holding a bag of food he received from the food pantry at Saint Lucy's Church, Cronk said, "I've been out of work for two months now. Now I've got to depend on these food banks."
Saint Lucy's expects to serve more than 500 families on the near west side this month alone. Muriel Conway says sometimes hungry folks line up around the block. " They can't afford food... they come in here, they have hungry children. They're hungry themselves. It's heartbreaking just to watch it. We do what we can but it's just a pittance."
According to the Food Bank, one in eight Americans don't have the resources to properly feed themselves or their families and Central New York is no exception.
