Friends,
If you have a few minutes, please take a look at the News Channel 12 story and meet our Markus, who runs our food pantry and spoke on behalf of the Outreach.
https://longisland.news12.com/li-nonprofits-see-large-spike-in-requests-for-food-assistance
On Wednesday, Cecilia Dowd and her crew from News Channel 12 visited the Outreach to report on the sharp rise in new food requests due to the ongoing SNAP issue.
As I’ve shared in recent updates, we have seen a significant increase in new clients over the past few months and the SNAP freeze has only worsened the situation for many who were already struggling to put food on the table.
As Cecilia was getting ready to interview a few people for her story, a 91-year-old woman client (who walked 1.2 miles with a two-wheeled cart to get to the Outreach) came through the front door to get food. As she caught her breath sitting in our waiting room, she told me that she lives on a small pension, Social Security, and $90 in food stamps. While that $90 doesn’t go far, she said it helps her make it through the month— but now that it has gone away, the pantry is a lifeline. We are seeing three times as many new senior clients coming to the Outreach for food, if they can’t make it here, our volunteers deliver to them. All good! Thank you for your continued care and support.
Joe
