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Press Release
For Immediate Release
#14-20
FOOD ACCESS AMID A PANDEMIC: DELIVERING MEALS TO NYC’S MOST VULNERABLE
May 4, 2020 – Samuel Kornfield is an exercise coordinator at NYC Emergency Management. He usually spends his days planning for hypothetical emergencies that could impact New York City. Now, as the city battles the COVID-19 pandemic, Kornfield finds himself in a new role – operations chief of the NYC Food Delivery Assistance program.
In mid-March, as New York City implemented social distancing measures citywide, one of NYC Emergency Management’s planning scenarios emerged: how to feed the city’s most food vulnerable, including the elderly and those with disability access and functional needs. New Yorkers who are potentially most at risk from the COVID-19 virus were suddenly isolated from their support networks and unable to afford food delivery services.
“Look at that line, this place is running like a Swiss watch,” Kornfield says to Anthony Traveso, the NYC Parks Department supervisor in charge of food distribution at the Al Oerter Recreation Center in Flushing, Queens. “It’s an amazing experience to see something we built on paper come to life.”
Before them is a long line of vehicles leading from the front of Al Oerter down the block and under the Van Wyck Expressway overpass. These are New York City taxis and TLC for-hire vehicles. As the vehicles file quickly and smoothly through the center’s parking lot, New York State National Guard men and women load each vehicle with boxes of food to be delivered to the city’s most vulnerable.
Inside the center, dozens of pallets of boxed food are stacked high and spread across vacant basketball courts. City employees from the NYC Parks Department, Department of Environmental Protection, Taxi and Limousine Commission, and the Sanitation Department work together managing supply and demand, distributing food across New York City. About 40,000 to 70,000 meals leave this Queens recreation center daily.
Ten food distribution sites are operational throughout the five boroughs, delivering about 300,000 meals per day. The Al Oerter Recreational Center has delivered about 730,000 meals in Queens so far and the NYC Food Delivery Assistance program has delivered nearly 4 million meals across New York City.
“We put this into place to help the most vulnerable New Yorkers,” Kornfield said. “The size and scope of that population remains to be seen, but we’ll keep at it until the need is no longer there.”
Food Access in NYC
The NYC Food Delivery Assistance program is just one of many food access programs under the City’s Food Czar team, overseen by Sanitation Commissioner Kathryn Garcia, to help New Yorkers during the COVID-19 pandemic. These programs include the Department of Education’s grab-and-go meals at over 400 sites across the city, senior meal deliveries, and work with food pantries and soup kitchens in all five boroughs.
New Yorkers in need of food assistance can visit NYC.gov/getfood for access to a map of free food resources, information on how to sign up for SNAP benefits, and more resources. More than 12 million meals have been provided across all City programs to date.
#14-20
FOOD ACCESS AMID A PANDEMIC: DELIVERING MEALS TO NYC’S MOST VULNERABLE
NYC Emergency Management works with the City’s Food Czar team to feed isolated New Yorkers
May 4, 2020 – Samuel Kornfield is an exercise coordinator at NYC Emergency Management. He usually spends his days planning for hypothetical emergencies that could impact New York City. Now, as the city battles the COVID-19 pandemic, Kornfield finds himself in a new role – operations chief of the NYC Food Delivery Assistance program.
In mid-March, as New York City implemented social distancing measures citywide, one of NYC Emergency Management’s planning scenarios emerged: how to feed the city’s most food vulnerable, including the elderly and those with disability access and functional needs. New Yorkers who are potentially most at risk from the COVID-19 virus were suddenly isolated from their support networks and unable to afford food delivery services.
“Look at that line, this place is running like a Swiss watch,” Kornfield says to Anthony Traveso, the NYC Parks Department supervisor in charge of food distribution at the Al Oerter Recreation Center in Flushing, Queens. “It’s an amazing experience to see something we built on paper come to life.”
Before them is a long line of vehicles leading from the front of Al Oerter down the block and under the Van Wyck Expressway overpass. These are New York City taxis and TLC for-hire vehicles. As the vehicles file quickly and smoothly through the center’s parking lot, New York State National Guard men and women load each vehicle with boxes of food to be delivered to the city’s most vulnerable.
Inside the center, dozens of pallets of boxed food are stacked high and spread across vacant basketball courts. City employees from the NYC Parks Department, Department of Environmental Protection, Taxi and Limousine Commission, and the Sanitation Department work together managing supply and demand, distributing food across New York City. About 40,000 to 70,000 meals leave this Queens recreation center daily.
Sam Kornfield (right) inspects a meal kit with Anthony Traveso and Hope Slon at the Al Oerter Recreational Center
Ten food distribution sites are operational throughout the five boroughs, delivering about 300,000 meals per day. The Al Oerter Recreational Center has delivered about 730,000 meals in Queens so far and the NYC Food Delivery Assistance program has delivered nearly 4 million meals across New York City.
“We put this into place to help the most vulnerable New Yorkers,” Kornfield said. “The size and scope of that population remains to be seen, but we’ll keep at it until the need is no longer there.”
Food Access in NYC
The NYC Food Delivery Assistance program is just one of many food access programs under the City’s Food Czar team, overseen by Sanitation Commissioner Kathryn Garcia, to help New Yorkers during the COVID-19 pandemic. These programs include the Department of Education’s grab-and-go meals at over 400 sites across the city, senior meal deliveries, and work with food pantries and soup kitchens in all five boroughs.
New Yorkers in need of food assistance can visit NYC.gov/getfood for access to a map of free food resources, information on how to sign up for SNAP benefits, and more resources. More than 12 million meals have been provided across all City programs to date.