City's hunger crisis grows

Food pantries can't keep up as demand soars

An alarming number of food pantries and soup kitchens in Queens, Brooklyn and the Bronx are being forced to turn people away hungry, a new survey shows. Demand for food pantries and soup kitchens has skyrocketed throughout New York City--growing by an estimated 20% this year, combined with an estimated 11% last year, according to an analysis conducted by the New York City Coalition Against Hunger. Presently, 1.3 million New Yorkers --one in every six residents--cannot afford an adequate and consistent food supply and must rely on pantries and shelters,statistics show. For it's annual hunger survey, released this week, the nonprofit coalition polled 265 of the more than 1,200 charitable feeding agencies in the city.The survey found 76% of responing agencies in Queens said they didn't have enough food to meet the rapidly increasing demand , and the case was the same for 67% in Brooklyn and 65% in the Bronx. By contrast, that figure was 36% in Manhattan and 29% on Staten Island.
When the economy gets a cold , lowerincome people get pneumonia,"Berg added . Adapted from the new york daily news metro news 11-23-07 p-cn 1