For most of his life, Kenny has fed people.

A native of China, Kenny moved to New York City, where he spent his career working in restaurants, cooking behind a wok, stirring soups, and preparing orders. That work always kept his family fed—all of them together in the apartment he still calls home today.

But when Kenny retired and began living on a fixed income, everything shifted. He had his Social Security and a little food assistance, but they never quite stretched to the end of the month. He says, “It was the first time I had to think about what it meant to receive help.”

The help that Kenny needed came through one of City Harvest’s Mobile Markets®. For the past year, he’s come by monthly to pick up fresh fruits and veggies to take home. “The apples always go first,” he says with a smile.

Every year, Mobile Markets help feed nearly 344,000 New Yorkers just like Kenny. Through 11 Mobile Markets and throughout all five boroughs, we rescue and deliver more than 3 million pounds of fresh produce to the neighbors who need it most. And it’s possible only because of you.

For Kenny, visiting the Mobile Market is more than a monthly errand. It’s a reminder that New Yorkers always show up for one another. With this consistent and reliable access to nutritious food, he can keep feeding the people he loves.

“I don’t need much, but the food from City Harvest helps me give my family something to eat,” Kenny shares. “That means everything.”

Thank you for standing with City Harvest to help ensure that fresh, nourishing food reaches every New Yorker who needs it. With neighbors helping neighbors, we are building a stronger, more food-secure New York City.

We, along with millions of New Yorkers, are relieved that SNAP and WIC will now be funded through next year and hard-working federal employees will receive their paychecks. With the reopening of the federal government last night, our neighbors will have some relief from the uncertainty they have experienced over the past 43 days.

The unprecedented disruption to SNAP last week gave us a glimpse of what happens when food assistance is interrupted, and it highlighted what we already know: SNAP is a critical and effective program. We saw the impact when $8 billion in SNAP benefits were withheld, leaving 1.8 million New Yorkers and millions more across the country uncertain about how to feed their families. Even before the shutdown, the need for food assistance in New York City–one of the world’s most affluent cities–was at the highest level on record. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act passed in July will cut a historic $186 billion from SNAP. With the end of the government shutdown, we know many will move on. But at City Harvest we face the stark reality that 1 in 6 New Yorkers, including 1 in 4 children, was experiencing food insecurity before the shutdown, and they still are today. 

Cuts to SNAP that will continue to take effect in the months ahead will be devastating for our fellow New Yorkers, and we know City Harvest will not be able to fill the gap. But, with the support of our community, we are committed to doing everything we can to provide as much food as possible to anyone who needs it in New York City. Thank you to everyone who stepped up with us over the past few weeks for our neighbors. As we look ahead, we will be rescuing and delivering food every day for our neighbors who are depending on us today, while advocating to mitigate the impact on our fellow New Yorkers, and preparing for when countless more may find themselves in need of food assistance in the months to come. As neighbors helping neighbors, we are strongest when we come together, and together we can ensure that every family in our city can put food on the table no matter what happens.

Today marks a devastating new chapter in the government shutdown: The federal government has stopped funding the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) for the first time in history. SNAP, formerly known as food stamps, is our nation’s most effective anti-hunger program—helping 1.8 million New Yorkers and millions more across the country feed themselves and their families—and a powerful economic driver at local grocers, farmers’ markets, and bodegas. City Harvest is doing everything we can to help our neighbors in need, and I am asking you to join us in doing more for New Yorkers experiencing food insecurity.  

The ruling late yesterday ordering the federal government to reinstate SNAP benefits highlights just how critical this program is for so many in our city and across the country. Our understanding is that it will likely take days, if not weeks, to pay November benefits—and they still might not be paid at all. Among so much uncertainty, one thing is clear: Our fellow New Yorkers who were counting on receiving SNAP benefits today will not be getting them. That’s why we are stepping up to ensure our neighbors are able to put food on the table in the days to come. 

This week, our trucks will be on the road delivering fresh produce and pantry staples like peanut butter and pasta to our food pantry partners in neighborhoods with the highest population of SNAP recipients. We have distributed 11,000 pounds of food at special distributions for impacted federal workers and have additional distributions planned for this week, all while maintaining our ongoing support to partner food pantries and our own Mobile Markets, which have already been seeing record high visits. We are preparing to distribute more than 1 million more pounds of food than we did last November so that our partners can meet the growing lines outside their doors. And we are only able to do this when generous friends like you step up with us.  

We are doing this so people like Dessairee, who recently visited City Harvest’s Sunset Park Mobile Market, don’t have to wonder if they’ll eat tonight. “I don’t know what I’m going to do [without food stamps],” the single mother shared. She added: 

“It’s going to be very hard to buy food, to celebrate Christmas, to celebrate Thanksgiving. It’s going to be really tough this year. I really depend on City Harvest. If we don’t have the food stamps, then I’m going to have to rely on City Harvest even more. What helps me and gives me hope is that I come here, and I get my free food. Hopefully I can stretch it out until everything goes back to normal.” 

If you would like to help Dessairee—and 1.8 million more of our NYC neighbors, each with their own story, who are depending on SNAP—here’s what you can do: 

• Donate. This is the quickest, most effective way to help. Just $1 helps feed 2 New Yorkers in need for a day. 

• Volunteer. We have opportunities in all five boroughs, including special food distributions for impacted federal workers. 

• Participate in a food drive or start your own. It’s easy to set one up, or you can drop cans off at NYPD precincts, FDNY stations, and Apple Bank locations throughout the city. 

• Write your member of Congress. Let them know how you and your community are impacted by the shutdown. 

• Share our Food Map, which shows free food distribution sites across all five boroughs.  

City Harvest is uniquely positioned to mobilize the impact of every dollar and rescue more food and deliver it where it is needed most. But we can only do this with your partnership. Will you help our neighbors in need put food on the table at this critical moment?  

In partnership, 

Jilly Stephens

City Harvest CEO

The federal government announced that they will stop funding the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)—an essential program that helps 1.8 million New York City residents feed themselves and their families—this Saturday, because of the shutdown. This means our fellow New Yorkers will not receive the critical food assistance they have been counting on. These neighbors of ours—mothers, fathers, seniors on a fixed income—cannot wait for the government to re-open to put food on the table. Will you help City Harvest respond now so that our neighbors in need can access free, nutritious food?  

I will be blunt: This is a crisis. For every meal that organizations like City Harvest provide, SNAP provides nine. No charity can make up for the gap the absence of SNAP creates. But at City Harvest we are positioned to scale up our food rescue and delivery operations in response to a surge in need, and we will do everything we can to provide more food for our fellow New Yorkers in the days and weeks to come. But we can only do this with your support.  

Here’s what your generosity makes possible: 

• We have been distributing food on military bases and near airports to support federal workers who have been feeling the effects of the shutdown.  

• Now with the expiration of SNAP days away, we have been in touch with our food pantry partners in the neighborhoods with the highest percentage of SNAP use in the city to understand how we can best support them. We are securing more fresh produce and pantry staples so that we can provide more food to pantries anticipating a spike in visits.  

• We are committed to doing this while maintaining our distributions to all our food pantry and soup kitchen partners and our own Mobile Markets, because even before the government shut down, visits to New York City soup kitchens and food pantries have been at a record high for months. 

With your support, City Harvest will step up for our fellow New Yorkers who will be depending on us more than ever to help put food on the table during this uncertain time. By giving now, you will help ensure that no matter how many of our neighbors find themselves in need of food assistance, City Harvest will be there for them.  

And if you, like so many of our neighbors, need food assistance, please visit our Find Food map.  

In partnership, 

Jilly 

Four weeks into the nation’s second longest government shutdown, we have begun to see its effect on our neighbors. In a city where 50% of our fellow New Yorkers are struggling to make ends meet, just a single missed paycheck can force federal workers to seek food assistance, some for the very first time. And thanks to your support, City Harvest is there for them.  

Last week, we partnered with Blue Star Families to deliver nearly 4,000 pounds of carrots, potatoes, onions, peanut butter, cooking oil, rice, and pasta to around 200 active-duty military, veterans, and members of the military community at Fort Wadsworth in Staten Island and Fort Hamilton in Brooklyn. Yesterday, we distributed fresh produce and pantry staples like tomato sauce and canned green beans to federal contractors and employees near LaGuardia Airport in Queens.   

And with your support, we can commit to doing even more—because our neighbors need us to. Our team is ordering food now to prepare in the event that Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits are disrupted in November if the shutdown continues. This would be truly devastating for the 1.8 million New Yorkers who depend on this critical program. We are working together with our food pantry partners in neighborhoods with the highest levels of SNAP enrollment and are bringing in more food for them to distribute. 

Visits to New York City soup kitchens and food pantries were already at a record high. The significant added strain of the shutdown demands that we do even more.  

This is an uncertain time for so many in our city. Together, we can provide hope by ensuring our neighbors have access to the nutritious food they need. But we can only do it with your help. Give now so that City Harvest can be there for New Yorkers impacted by the shutdown—and for everyone who is turning to us to put dinner on the table. 

In partnership, 

Jilly 

On July 4th, the President signed into law the largest cuts to food assistance and Medicaid in U.S. history. In the more than two decades I have worked at City Harvest, we have seen and responded to many crises, but I’ll be frank: This catastrophe has the potential to be unlike any we have encountered before and we need your support now. 

New York City is at risk of losing the equivalent of 250 million meals in a single year because of these cuts. Nearly 1.8 million of our neighbors—children, seniors, working New Yorkers—will risk having to skip meals due to the loss of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits. Food pantry lines will grow longer, and more of our neighbors will turn to our partner food pantries and our Mobile Markets in order to put food on the table.  

We can and we must do more. At times of crisis, City Harvest steps up. We responded to 9/11 and Hurricane Sandy and government shutdowns and, of course, the pandemic—all because our supporters have stepped up with us. In the face of this new crisis, I am asking you to remain by our side for our fellow New Yorkers.  

We are ready to rescue millions more pounds of high-quality, nutritious food that would otherwise go to waste and deliver it for free to soup kitchens and food pantries throughout the city. But in order to do more, we need extra support.  

Please donate now. Your generosity will enable us to provide more free food for our fellow New Yorkers who are depending on us today and the many more who will count on us in the months ahead. 

Thank you for your continued support. 

In partnership, 

Jilly 

July 2, 2025

With the Senate majority approving cuts to important food and nutrition programs like SNAP, it’s evident now more than ever that New York City needs to prioritize food security. The city’s newly adopted budget for fiscal year 2026 kept emergency food funding steady, maintaining support for Community Food Connection at about the same level as last year. We asked City officials to increase and lock in funding at $100 million — a small amount (just 0.09% of the total $115.9 billion city budget) that would have helped provide 43 million pounds of healthy food to people who need it most.

Holding the line does not meet the current moment and instead puts the most vulnerable New Yorkers at great risk. Since 2019, pantry visits have increased by 82 percent, the cost of food has risen 25 percent, and food charities have faced millions of dollars in funding cuts from the federal government. 

In any year, we are grateful that anti-hunger programs are protected, but we are also deeply aware that a flat emergency food supply will be strained when federal policy decisions continue to drive up demand for emergency food. Funding is critically important for the 700+ food pantries that are working to serve more New Yorkers with less support from the federal government.

Thank you to the thousands of New Yorkers who signed our petitions and sent letters to their elected officials, and to the food pantry leaders who rallied with us on the steps of City Hall and testified to City Council. These leaders balanced the urgent work of feeding their communities with countless hours of advocacy in City Hall and beyond. 

New Yorkers are resilient. They find ways to navigate stagnating wages, a rising cost of living, and political uncertainty with grit and determination. We look forward to continuing to work with leaders in City government to ensure that together we meet the level of determination and resilience of its people by investing in programs that fuel New York City.

At the end of May, I wrote to you about the House of Representatives’ proposed cuts to food assistance and Medicaid. After some debate, the Senate has voted in favor of its version of the bill, which also proposes approximately a trillion dollars in cuts from domestic programs, including nearly $200 billion in critical food assistance funding. This includes the elimination of SNAP-Ed, the primary source of funding for City Harvest’s Nutrition & Culinary Education programming, which gives people the skills and knowledge to prepare nutritious, budget-conscious meals with the free produce we provide. The bill will now go back to the House of Representatives for a vote as early as today, and these catastrophic cuts have the potential to be signed into law by the end of the week. If they are, this bill will take food off the table for millions of our neighbors.

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) at the heart of the $200 billion cuts is the nation’s most effective anti-hunger program. If passed:

• 200,000 New York City residents would lose access to SNAP, particularly aging adults

• Nearly 1.8 million New Yorkers could see their benefits decrease

SNAP is also an economic driver of local business, with every $1 in SNAP benefits generating $1.50 in activity at neighborhood supermarkets and bodegas.

What We Are Seeing on the Ground

These cuts come at a time when visits to NYC soup kitchens and food pantries are at a record high. 50% of working-aged New Yorkers, many of whom work multiple jobs, are struggling to make ends meet amidst an affordability crisis in our city. We’re hearing from some of our partner soup kitchens and food pantries who have already lost funds and are being forced to turn people away because they do not have enough food for everyone who is depending on them. These partners are telling us that some food pantry employees are reaching into their own pockets to cover expenses to ensure they have enough food for the growing lines outside their doors.

Yet even New York City’s government is not meeting the moment. Just this week, the FY26 City Budget did not heed calls from City Harvest and other anti-hunger organizations for adequate funding for Community Food Connection, which provides nutritious food to more than 700 of the city’s soup kitchens and food pantries.

City Harvest was already mobilizing to do more in response to the extraordinary need we’re seeing, and these cuts could force even more of our neighbors to turn to pantries in order to access the food they need to thrive. City Harvest cannot make up for these proposed cuts, but we can and must do more.

At a time when New Yorkers need help the most, it is up to us, City Harvest’s community of supporters, to step up for each other. With your help, we will provide as much free food as possible to our fellow New Yorkers who depend on us now, and the many more who may turn to us once these cuts go into effect.

How City Harvest Is Responding

This week is the start of City Harvest’s new fiscal year, and we have ambitious goals: rescuing and delivering approximately 87 million pounds of nutritious food for free, bringing on new agency partners across the five boroughs, and investing in these partners so they can serve more New Yorkers more efficiently. We want to continue to bring free nutrition & culinary education to schools and senior centers, and to grow our advocacy to help ensure leaders at all levels of government prioritize the needs of our most vulnerable neighbors. And we plan to do this because it is what was needed to respond to the high need even before these devastating and unprecedented proposed cuts. We are only able to do this and be there for our neighbors because of the ongoing and generous support of friends like you.  

• Donate. The most effective way to support our work is by donating. Just $1 helps feed 2 New Yorkers in need.

• Advocate. Sign our petition to tell Congress and the USDA that you oppose any cuts to SNAP.

• Volunteer. You can find opportunities to distribute free produce, repack produce into family-sized bags to deliver to food pantries, and much more. 

And if you, like so many of our neighbors, are struggling amid the city’s affordability crisis and are in need of food assistance, visit our Find Food Map for locations offering free food throughout New York City.

Thank you for your commitment to our fellow New Yorkers. No matter what happens in Washington, D.C. or in City Hall, we will do everything we can to provide as much free, nutritious food as possible to our neighbors who need it most—together.

In partnership,

Jilly Stephens
CEO of City Harvest

Konstance Patton Ke-nee-go-keshek is an award-winning Indigenous American art director working between NYC and Detroit. She’s an enrolled member of The Little River Band of Ottawa Indians in Michigan, and her practice carries on the multi-generational tradition of art and storytelling in her family. Her work explores the Divine Feminine and historical adoration. She founded the street art festivals Be A Lover Fest in NYC and The Potluck Festival in Detroit. She is a founder of the art collective Soho Renaissance Factory. She was honored by the New York State Assembly for her visionary leadership in 2024.  Konstance makes art for future generations.

Konstance Patton Ke-nee-go-keshek (b. 1983)

Goddezz Juanita of Harvest, with her Mother Dazee and Sisterz Venus, Ruby, Blu, and June, as the Bless the Block, 2025
Latex and oil base paint
Size: 80′-0″ x 40′-0
Part of the City Harvest Art Initiative

This mural is dedicated to the memory of artist and mother, Juanita De’Von Reynolds, who, during the 2020 pandemic, when the world shut down, organized and fed our elders when they needed it the most. The turtles throughout represent Turtle Island, the feathers represent our ancestors who walked these lands before us, and the gold crowns represent the sun. Miigwetch Miigwetch Miigwetch.

Instagram: @keneegokeshekstudio

This morning the House of Representatives voted to cut hundreds of billions of dollars in funding to critical food, nutrition, and other important safety net programs. The bill now goes to the Senate, and we are carefully watching its progress. Should these proposed cuts go into effect, they would be devastating to the millions of New Yorkers and people across the country who are already struggling to put food on the table. For example, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is our nation’s most effective tool in fighting hunger, helping 1.8 million New York City residents and millions more across the country afford the food they and their families need to thrive.

The proposed cuts of nearly $300 billion to SNAP would gut the program, taking food away from children, seniors, and working New Yorkers, period. And they come at a time when 50% of working-age New Yorkers are already struggling to cover necessities amidst an affordability crisis, and when visits to New York City soup kitchens and food pantries are at a record high. These cuts would also hurt local economies, as every $1 in SNAP benefits generates $1.50 in economic activity at neighborhood supermarkets and bodegas.

For every meal that food banks provide, SNAP provides nine. City Harvest—and indeed, the entire charitable food system—simply cannot make up the gap if these cuts go into effect. But with your support, we will do everything we can to minimize the catastrophic impact these cuts would have on our neighbors in need and provide even more nutritious food for free to people experiencing food insecurity across New York City.

I want to be clear: This is not business as usual. This would be the biggest cut to SNAP in its history, coming at a moment of deep uncertainty and change that is contributing to the extraordinary need for food assistance in our city. Over more than 40 years of serving New York City, City Harvest has stepped up repeatedly in response to changing needs in our city. And with your support, we will do it again.

An Affordability Crisis

The need in New York City is staggering even before any cuts to critical food assistance programs. New research released last week by Feeding America shows that 1 in 6 New Yorkers experienced food insecurity in 2023 (the most recent year for which data is available), up from 1 in 7 the year before and up from 1 in 8 just five years ago. In 2019, there were about 25 million visits to NYC soup kitchens and food pantries. Last year there were more than 46 million visits. And those numbers are only increasing. The ongoing affordability crisis is driving more and more of our neighbors to food pantries as they struggle to balance high costs for essentials like rent, childcare, and groceries. City Harvest was already increasing the amount of food we will be rescuing and delivering this year in response to this persistent need, and while we cannot make up for these proposed cuts, we still must do even more.

The Devastating Impact of Federal Cuts

On top of the affordability crisis, recent federal cuts and freezes that predated the House vote make the outlook all the more alarming. After 30 consecutive years of receiving Emergency Food and Shelter Program (EFSP) funding originating with FEMA, City Harvest was notified in February that we would not be receiving funding this year due to a freeze on EFSP funding. As an organization that is primarily privately funded, we are fortunate that federal cuts have not directly impacted us even more. However, many of our food pantry partners have lost funding and food deliveries because of recent federal cuts and freezes. Even before the full scope of these proposed policy changes would take effect, our partner food pantries are telling us that they’re having to turn away people in need of food and to decrease the number of food distributions they offer. That should not be happening in one of the most affluent cities in the world.  

Taken together, it’s a perfect storm. And if our most vulnerable neighbors are going to weather it, it will require all of us coming together to do even more to support one another.

How We’re Stepping Up

City Harvest is uniquely positioned to mobilize in response to the fallout from any federal cuts. Through our decades of experience and deep relationships with our 400 soup kitchen and food pantry partners and within communities across the city, we have the expertise and ability to rescue food and get it where it is needed most. This year, in response to record levels of need, we have increased our food rescue and delivery operations by 4 million pounds beyond our initial goal, recruited nine new food pantry and soup kitchen partners, and invested in our agency partners to enable them to serve more New Yorkers. But we need to do even more. And we are only able to do this with the ongoing and generous support of friends like you.

How You Can Help

There are several ways you can help make sure our neighbors experiencing food insecurity have the food they need to thrive, no matter the political or economic environment.

• Donate. The most effective way to support our work is by donating. Just $1 helps feed 2 New Yorkers in need.
• Advocate. Sign our petition to tell Congress and the USDA that you oppose any cuts to SNAP.
• Volunteer. You can find opportunities to distribute free produce, repack produce into family-sized bags to deliver to food pantries, and much more here.

And if you, like so many of our neighbors, are struggling to meet the high cost of living and are in need of food assistance, visit our Find Food Map for locations offering free food throughout New York City.

Thank you for your dedication to our fellow New Yorkers. Together, we will feed our city—one day, one meal, one New Yorker at a time.

In partnership,

Jilly Stephens, CEO of City Harvest