Transcript:

Ridwan, Food Bank For NYC Volunteer:

New Yorkers do show up for each other. I actually think that people are genuinely nice here in New York. 

New Yorker

Be grateful. Be grateful.

Ridwan

Yes. She’s right. Be That’s right. She said it. I wanted to find ways to give back to the city that actually gave me everything.

And I try to find different neighborhoods and and different things that I can I can that I can partake in? And food bank provides a lot of options. A lot of it has to do with, like, my background and how my family sort of raised me and to give back. I want my kids to know that you have you know, you can give back or, know, there’s more to them than, like, what you what you see.

And just like the lady said, be being grateful to what you have and just try to give back, you know, when you can. Where I grew up in Queens, it was it was very diverse. It was all, like, where I grew up, it was very, like, first generation from everywhere, really. And it was amazing.

And I still have contact with all my friends from from like different backgrounds, Greek, Italians, Bengali, Egyptians, Indian, everywhere across the board. I remember like going into one of my friend’s house, opening up a fridge. There’s nothing in there other than the ketchup and mustard and things like that. And so I went and I told my parents.

I remember, like, they gave a key food card. I don’t know how much they they did, but to to help them with groceries. And then I remember we became close to that family. If you have that purpose, if you want to give back, if you really like if you care for the community, you’re gonna show up.

You’re gonna be there. For me, like, coming here from my house, it’s about an hour and a half. The Long Island Railroad and and the the sea train from there. And I work in the city, so I’d have to actually I took a half day today to do this.

Like, you know, you’re volunteering or you’re donating, you’re helping to the cause of like, okay, well, I can do something about it. And, like, that to me is showing up.

Transcript:

Nancy, Food Bank For NYC Volunteer:

I started volunteering before COVID, but during COVID, I saw that, we couldn’t get all the things that we needed, like the food, everything else. So then it it encouraged me to come and help more because if I need the help, I could actually tell everybody else, you know, it’s fine to come over and it’s not something bad to come to the food pantry.

It helps because I know as a mother, I wanna have the best for my family even when I don’t have access to it. Tomato sauce?

Yeah. Thank you. You don’t know what everybody is going through. So having access to all of the services like the food pantry, it’s really helpful and gives you that sense that you’re even if you can’t do a lot, you’re doing something for your family.

Especially in the holidays, we’re worrying about the heating costs. Sometimes we have to pay for heating costs and, presents and a lot of things that we might need extra, like clothing and everything.

So giving us the food pantry helps us a lot because it’s gonna give us also the necessities that we need and not having us to worry a lot about what are we gonna eat next.

Transcript:

Noel, Mother of 2 from Brooklyn:

I have my bachelor’s degree. I’m an educated woman, but I’m still living in insecurity when it comes to food. I have my own company, and I’m still working as a a part time worker. I teach piano, guitar, and voice.

I’m doing okay with it, but as you can see, like with my children and myself, I’m still finding that at the middle and end of the month, I still have to go to food pantries just to make ends meet. You know, you might be able to pay all your rent today this month.

You might be able to get your Con Ed bill and pay your gas and water, but you might not be able to pay for food because the price of the food has changed since even in the past four years. It has skyrocketed even since then.

And Food Bank for New York City has been, like, crucial in assisting us with putting fresh vegetables and food in our refrigerator. I think the food banks really are becoming more common, and I did notice, like, Food Bank of New York City was one of those food pantries that was always working twenty fourseven, like three sixty five.

And this is one of those places that would just help you just get to the next level without the stress of where’s my next meal gonna come from. Even with having food stamps and WIC, WIC only gives me twenty six dollars in vegetables and foods for the month, which is helpful, but like twenty six dollars, it is stressful, especially when you have children.

Being a parent is probably the best thing that ever happened to me. For me, it’s not hard. The times get hard, but when you love each other, it doesn’t feel that hard. I love being a mom.

They already have joy. They already have peace. Thank God they already have good health. I would say I just want them to be continue educating themselves and loving themselves in this thing called life and being able to, like, maneuver themselves in these different shifting times.

In one of the richest cities in the world, nearly 1.6 million New Yorkers are facing hunger. And since June 2025, close to 120,000 of them have lost their SNAP benefits — not because they stopped needing help, but because new rules, confusion, and fear pushed them off the rolls. The cost lands on families, bodegas, and whole neighborhoods.

Food Bank For New York City is standing in the gap. This Hunger Action Month, you can too.

Give now and help us keep SNAP within reach for hardworking New Yorkers.

Hunger Action Month is powered by Wonder through the Grubhub Community Fund.

Transcript:

Zanita Tisdale, Vice President of Agency and Organizational Impact:

New York City, one of the richest cities in the world and home to nearly 1.6 million hardworking New Yorkers facing hunger on every block and in every borough. Since 2020, New Yorkers have overcome challenge after challenge.

Hunger outlasted them all.

The emergency food crisis is still here, and it’s only getting worse. Hi. I’m Zanita, Vice President of Agency and Organizational Impact at Food Bank for New York City, our city’s largest hunger relief organization. Recent federal policy brought sweeping changes to SNAP, the program once known as food stamps, that puts nutritious food on tables across America. Since June 2025, nearly 120,000 New York City residents have lost access to their food benefits, driven by red tape, confusion, and fear with the greatest impact falling on local communities and their economies. Our emergency food network stands in the gap. For New Yorkers trying to keep a roof over their head and food in their stomachs, New Yorkers like Jo Ann.

Jo Ann:

Hello. Hello. The last ten days of the month, we’re down to, like, nothing in our refrigerator. I’m on public assistance.

I lost my job. I’ve always worked all my life. I, lost my job in 2020 and couldn’t find a job. Sent out over eight thousand applications.

I’ve been in HR for over twenty five years. And then they changed the rules for the work requirements. ABAWD came in. So I had to look for volunteer work, and I got into the SNAP call center.

Thank you for calling the food bank. How can I help you? I actually love doing it because I’ve always worked in HR. I’ve always wanted to work and help people in all sorts of matters, and I and I can connect with these people that are calling me because I get SNAP.

So I understand their their you know, I understand their frustration. I understand their sadness and discouragement. I understand how HRA works. Okay.

So I’m gonna I’m gonna ask you some information. I’m gonna need your name, first of all. If I can do a SNAP screening and I can help a person get their benefits by advising them how, you know, how to navigate the process, I am very happy doing that because, you know, everything is very expensive, but it is terrible that no one should be going hungry in this city. With so much money that that’s out there, no one should be suffering like this.

Nobody.

Zanita:

Jo Ann is not alone. She is one of hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers on SNAP who must now meet new work requirements to keep their food benefits. And volunteering with Food Bank for New York City helps her to do just that.

Joanne feels fortunate. She has the safety net of SNAP and she can meet the new work rules, but many cannot. And it’s not just New Yorkers who are feeling the squeeze. Every SNAP dollar lost is a dollar lost at the register.

And for many local businesses, those dollars are the difference between staying open and closing for good.

Radhames:

New York without bodegas is not gonna be New York.

New Yorker:

I love my bodegas!

Radhames:

The bodegas, they have the big connection with the community. That we feeling the same thing the community feeling. My neighbor because that’s those my neighbor.

People who that I’m serving, that’s that’s my family. He treats everybody with a good heart. It’s a connection that we have that I like, I feel the same thing she felt because we come in for the same thing, for for for a family, for poor people, and we’re there sharing the the same situation they have.

That’s the way that’s the same thing I feel. Cutting the SNAP for the community is cutting a lot of other stuff is because those customers that are they used to go to the store, they are spending, let’s say, a hundred dollars. Now they’re gonna spend maybe fifty dollars. So that’s less income to the store. Then how we’re gonna pay the rent, how we’re gonna pay the electricity, and all the the the the expenses that we have in the store is is depending on how much we’re earning. If we would got cut off for over forty, fifty, sixty percent, of our gross sales, so then we’re not gonna be able to survive.

Zanita:

If you think this doesn’t affect you because you’re not on SNAP, listen to how this will affect the New York state budget.

Barbara:

My summary is that none of it is good for New York state or New York state residents. Right now, we’re predicting the federal cost shifts will result in about a 1.3 billion dollar increase in cost for New York State and New York State counties. And that breaks down into two components. Part of it is administration, and then the much larger cost is to actually fund a portion of the SNAP benefits.

So the feds have decided that the cost shift for any state, the percentage you pay is based on what is referred to as a payment error rate. And at the federal level, this is being touted as waste, fraud, and abuse in the system, which is absolutely not what the payment error rate is. What the payment error rate measures is really just it could be relatively small mistakes that are made either by case workers who are processing benefits or by households who may report a change in their household circumstances, but maybe a little bit later than they needed to. So they’re really, it’s not fraud, they’re administrative errors.

In addition to just the fact that’s a lot of money that New York State could invest in other services. The SNAP program was designed with the federal government paying the benefits. Again, that’s because the federal government’s budget doesn’t need to be balanced every year. It can grow during times of economic downturn, and then it can contract like the SNAP program does during positive economic times where there are fewer people who need help.

That’s not the case at the state level. You know, every year, New York State must balance its budget. So if the state has to contribute over billion dollars to supporting SNAP, it really reduces opportunities for how New York taxpayer dollars are used to deliver services in New York State.

Zanita:

This is heavy. We know. But we also know what this city can do together so that no one, not Jo Ann, not the bodega on your corner, not the family on your block has to carry the weight of hunger alone. Food alone won’t end hunger, but people will.

So here’s where you come in. Go to foodbanknyc.org and sign our petition. Call your representatives. As SNAP changes push more families to our pantry lines, it’s going to take all of us showing up for our city.

It takes a city to feed one, and that city is you.

Jo Ann worked in HR for over twenty-five years before losing her job in 2020. She sent out more than eight thousand applications and still couldn’t find work. When new rules required volunteer hours to keep her benefits, she found her way to Food Bank’s SNAP call center — and found purpose there too.

Every call she takes, she understands on a level most people can’t. She’s on public assistance herself; by the last ten days of the month, her own refrigerator is nearly empty. That’s exactly why she’s good at this work — she doesn’t just walk callers through the SNAP process, she recognizes their frustration, their discouragement, their exhaustion, because she’s lived it.

Jo Ann believes no one in this city should go hungry — not with the resources New York has. So she keeps showing up, one call at a time, helping people get what they need to eat.

Give today — because no one in this city should have to go hungry. Help Jo Ann keep answering the call.

Hunger Action Month is powered by Wonder through the Grubhub Community Fund.

Transcript:

Jo Ann, Food Bank For NYC SNAP Call Center Volunteer:

Hello. Hello. The last ten days of the month, we’re down to, like, nothing in our refrigerator. I’m on public assistance.

I lost my job. I’ve always worked all my life. I, lost my job in twenty twenty and couldn’t find a job. Sent out over eight thousand applications.

I’ve been in HR for over twenty five years. And then they changed the rules for the work, requirements. ABOG came in. So I had to look for volunteer work and I got into the SNAP call center.

Thank you for calling the food bank. How can I help you? I actually love doing it because I’ve always worked in HR. I’ve always wanted to work and help people in all sorts of matters, and I and I can connect with these people that are calling me because I get snap.

So I understand their you know, I understand their frustration. I understand their sadness and discouragement. I understand how HRA works. Okay.

So I’m gonna I’m gonna ask you some information. I’m gonna need your name first of all. If I can do a snap screening and I can help a person get their benefits by advising them how, you know, how to navigate the process, I am very happy doing that because, you know, everything is very expensive, but it is terrible that no one should be going hungry in this city. With so much money that that’s out there, no one should be suffering like this.

Nobody.

As Food Bank For New York City’s longest serving food banker, Gil operates a hi-lo at our warehouse — moving pallets, checking every load, making sure nothing slips through. It’s precise work, and he knows exactly why it matters: one mistake in the warehouse means somebody outside doesn’t eat.

Gil grew up knowing what it means to need help, to have nothing to eat — he lived it for years. That’s why every pallet he moves today carries something personal. It’s not just a job to him. It’s thirty-five years of showing up for people who remind him of who he used to be.

Gil doesn’t do it alone — nobody at the warehouse does. It takes the whole team, working together, to make sure the people outside get what they need.

Give today — help Gil keep showing up for every New Yorker. 

Hunger Action Month is powered by Wonder through the Grubhub Community Fund.

Transcript:

Gil Llavet, HiLo Operator:

Hi. My name’s Gil. I’m a hi lo operator. I’ve been working for a food bank for New York City for 35 years.

It takes not only me to do this. Everybody in the warehouse, we all get together and do what have to be done. We had to be careful what we’re doing because any mistake that we do, it affects the people outside who need it.

I grew up poor.

I know the meaning of when you need help or you have nothing to eat.

And I went through that.

I went through that for years. And that’s why I appreciate everything what I get and I like to help all the people, because I know the meaning of when you need help or you have nothing to eat.

And I went through that. I went through that for years.

And that’s why I appreciate everything what I get and I like to help all the people, because I know how you feel when you need something and you don’t have it.

Growing up in a Massachusetts housing project, Bob knew only government-issue orange cheese until a monthly truck brought blocks of unbranded white cheese and milk that carried his family through — food that eventually helped get him through school, football, the Navy, and college.

That same path led him to Food Bank For New York City, where he now serves as Chief Procurement Officer, known affectionately as “the Big Cheese,” though he’s quick to credit his team over himself. Today he helps run day-to-day operations across the organization, including efforts to strengthen the soup kitchen and pantry in Harlem, driven by the belief that food security lets people focus on work and kids focus on school.

For Bob, the story closes a loop: the kid who once waited for the truck is now the one making sure it keeps rolling for someone else. “Now I get to pay it back,” he says.

Give today and keep the truck rolling — so the next kid waiting on it gets food today and a food-secure tomorrow.

Hunger Action Month is powered by Wonder through the Grubhub Community Fund.

Transcript:

Bob Silvia, Chief Procurement Officer:

Morning.

Warehouse Professional:

Morning, sir. How are you?

Bob:

Not too bad. How are you?

There is a joke around the food bank that Bob didn’t even know that white cheese existed until he was ten.

It’s a true story. I thought all cheese was fluorescent orange. There was a revelation when I saw white cheese. I was like, “That’s not cheese.”

So I grew up in a small town in Massachusetts in a housing project and looked forward to seeing the truck roll through the apartments and onto the basketball court, where the guys would roll up the back of the truck and they would give out evaporated milk and government cheese.

By getting the TEFAP food when I was a kid and getting the government food—the box of milk that said “Milk.” That was my favorite thing. It just said, “Milk.”

No need for color. Milk.

Right?

By getting that, you know, that allowed me to go to school. It got me graduated, it got me football, it got me into the Navy, it got me into college after the Navy, and then after that, it got me here. It just became a natural path to go into the world of nonprofit.

I think this happens with a lot of people who work in food banks. We didn’t start off working in a food bank; we were actually the recipients of the food from the food bank.

So as the Chief Procurement Officer, I bring in all the food—or my team does. I don’t do anything. I’m insignificant compared to the people around me. I mean, I work with absolute stars.

I also help oversee the operations of the food bank, and I’ve recently been working to help our soup kitchen and our pantry in Harlem kind of be the best they can be as well. I’m trying to do that by tying everybody together—you know, kind of one team, one dream.

We are part of the supply chain. We are part of people’s lives. We make it possible for people to go to work, for kids to go to school, and not think about where their next meal is coming from. And that’s really what it’s all about, right?

So now I get to pay back every time that truck drove onto the playground, landed on the basketball court, and gave out that cheese.

All I am now is the guy driving onto the basketball court, giving out cheese.