A Special Holiday Appeal: A Tale of Two Cities

Which do you want first? The good news or the bad news?

Like most New Yorkers, you probably want the bad news first. Well, here it is: as a result of the failing economy and misguided government cut backs – hunger, food insecurity, and malnutrition are soaring in New York. This will be a horrendous Thanksgiving season for the more than 1.4 million food insecure city residents.

The good news is that your generous support has enabled us to fight back, win key victories, and ensure access to healthier food for countless New Yorkers.

We’ve never needed your help more.

Today’s New York would be very familiar to Charles Dickens. Once again, we have a tale of two cities. But this time, both of them are New York.

For one New York population– billionaire New York – it was the best of times. According to our analysis of Forbes data, the 57 New York City billionaires now have a net worth of $211 billion, an $11 billion increase in one year. Their net worth now equals the annual income of over four million average New York City families. Yet some in Washington want to give them even more tax cuts.

For the other New York –impoverished New York – it was the worst of times. The city’s median household income is $48,743, five percent lower than 2007; and 75,000 more New Yorkers fell below the meager federal poverty line ($18,310 for a family of three) this year, the largest yearly hike in two decades. The total population of poor New Yorkers is now 1.6 million, equaling one in five residents. And now 1 in 4 children live in food insecure homes.

It is no wonder that New York State residents living in homes labeled by USDA as “very low food security,” increased by 56% over the past six years. New York’s hunger rate is now the highest level since the federal government began counting it in the 1990’s.

The only reason that hunger didn’t increase even faster was that, in 2009 and 2010, there were higher levels of federal anti-hunger funding. While millions of New Yorkers were at the edge of an economic cliff, with many falling off into hunger, the only reason more didn’t fall was the existence of federal programs. But now, even these programs are being slashed, and our elected officials are pushing the remaining survivors off the cliff.

The main federal program that provides funding to soup kitchens and food pantries – the FEMA Emergency Food and Shelter Program, was just cut by 40 percent this year. Despite the fact that this is the richest city in the history of the world, about half of the pantries and kitchens were forced to reduce portion size, reduce hours of operations, or turn away hungry families.

This is madness. The fact that our leaders are cutting programs for hungry New Yorkers to give billionaires ever greater tax cuts, further proves that our current policies are thoroughly unhinged, void of either common sense or basic moral decency.

But there’s hope.

The New York City Coalition Against Hunger is fighting back … and winning.

The Coalition continues to be one of the most courageous and effective advocacy groups in the city. While it’s appalling that hunger programs have been cut at all, the truth is, without advocacy, the cuts would have been much worse. We’ve won key pledges to restore funding. And, for some programs, our tireless advocacy has actually achieved funding increases.

We’re also providing innovative and cost-effective direct services to aid pantries and kitchens and enable low-income families to afford and access healthier food. Our ground breaking AmeriCorps national service program, supported by federal funds, engages young people to serve in full-time anti-hunger work with grass roots agencies. It’s such a national model that the Coalition is now replicating in 18 states. We’ve also helped thousands of families access government nutrition assistance benefits, enabling them to stave off hunger and obtain healthier foods.

Our Farm Fresh Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) project helps over 1,000 people in six low-income neighborhoods afford fresh produce directly from small, regional farmers. This pioneering effort has helped inspire elected officials to propose widespread expansion of similar efforts.

But we can only do this with your help. In these tough times, your support is more critical than ever. We hope we can count on you to once again make the most generous donation you can afford.

Sincerely,
Joel Berg
Executive Director, New York City Coalition Against Hunger

P.S. – The Coalition has received a perfect four star rating from Charity Navigator. We spend donations in an extraordinarily cost-effective and transparent manner. More than 82 percent of our budget goes to direct program. Detailed information about our finances is available here. A copy of the Coalition’s latest annual report may be obtained upon request from the organization or from the Office of the Attorney General, Charities Bureau, 120 Broadway, New York, NY 10271.