The Daily - A Day at the Food Pantry

Episode Date: November 25, 2020

On a day early this fall, Nikita Stewart, who covers social services for The New York Times, and the Daily producers Annie Brown and Stella Tan spent a day at Council of Peoples Organization, a food pantry in Brooklyn, speaking to its workers and clients.As with many other pantries in the city, it has seen its demand rocket during the pandemic as many New Yorkers face food shortages. And with the year drawing to a close, many of New York City’s pantries — often run with private money — face a funding crisis.Today, the story of one day in the operations of a New York food pantry. Guest: Nikita Stewart, who covers social services for The New York Times; Annie Brown, a senior audio producer for The Times; and Stella Tan, an associate audio producer for The Times. We want to hear from you. Fill out our survey about The Daily and other shows at: nytimes.com/thedailysurveyFor more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily Background reading: Here are five key statistics that show how hunger is worsening in New York City.An estimated 1.5 million New Yorkers can’t afford food, and tens of thousands have shown up at the city’s food pantries since the pandemic began. But there is relief and hope when they are at home cooking.

I don't know. What's that? That must be it there, yeah, the Halal food pantry. All right, it's 7.04 on a Friday morning. The pantry doesn't open for another couple of hours, and people are already lined up down the block. They've brought baskets or little portable chairs so they can sit down while they wait and they're waiting for it to open. Yes. So before the pandemic, I had covered pantries and, you know,

there would be a few people in line. If you were walking past, you might not have known that it was a pantry. But when the pandemic hit, the need was just unbelievable. You had job loss, but you also had this pandemic that made it difficult for a lot of people to actually volunteer at the pantries. So a lot of smaller pantries have closed. And I'm not saying like a few, like hundreds closed because they were mainly run by elderly volunteers who just could not be exposed to the virus. So as the number of people who need food assistance is growing, the number of pantries has actually diminished. So these things are happening at the same time. Yes. And one of the reasons you also see so many people in this line

is because this line serves a lot of immigrants. And so it's like, what are you going to do if you've lost your job and you have no public assistance? Getting in this line, you know, this is not a choice. This is a necessity. From the New York Times, I'm Michael Barbaro. This is The Daily. For the last eight months, all over New York City. I actually got up around 3 a.m. And when I looked, I saw the line just already there.

Lines have wrapped around food pantries. People are going to wait like seven, eight hours just to get some groceries. As a million city residents face new food shortages in the wake of the pandemic. Wow, man, something else. I've never seen anything like this, though. I never thought our food pantry would be something like this or there would be such a big need. COVID just changed a whole lot of things. It just changed the entire way of life. Today, as we approach Thanksgiving, a holiday defined by food, social services reporter Nikita Stewart with the story of one day at one food pantry in Brooklyn. It's Wednesday, November 25th. Social distancing.

Six feet apart. You are too close. Yes, loud. You are too close. Yes, loud. You are too close together. Earlier this fall, I went with Daily producers Annie Brown and Stella Tan to Council of People's Organization, or COPO, a food pantry in a neighborhood called Midwood in Brooklyn. As other pantries have closed, this one has seen its demand skyrocket.

We'd never expected this much. I never expected it. We thought it was, you know, we were doing like 60 clients a week. And now it's just unbelievable, thousands, at least 2,000 on the line. We meet up with Mohamed Razvi, the executive director and founder of COPO. The organization is a community-based organization that is to help our Americans and new Americans to fulfill their American dream. Mohammed himself is an immigrant. I came here when I was about six years old with my parents, immigrated from Pakistan.

And grew up nearby. I grew up in the Sheepshed Bay projects in Brooklyn. My dad was running two jobs, my mother was running two jobs, and I grew up in the Sheepshed Bay Projects in Brooklyn. My dad was running two jobs. My mother was running two jobs. And I grew up on food stamps. Myself, my kids also. But I worked and I worked and I worked. And, you know, I got to running five different businesses. And then 9-11 happened.

And after 9-11, people came to my stores saying, I need help for immigration services. And I ultimately gave up all my businesses. I sold it all off. And this is all I do for the past 18 years. Copo operates out of a storefront on busy Coney Island Avenue. By 10 a.m., two lines have formed on the sidewalk. To one side are seniors and

first responders. They'll be given food first. And on the other side is everyone else in a line that wraps all the way around the block. A series of tents are set up in the street where parking spots once were. In this tent that they set up. Filled with boxes and boxes of fresh produce and canned goods. And pallets of food. I see some canned corn, canned collard greens, chickpeas. It's a lot of food. Literally hundreds of boxes. Dozens of volunteers are running around, getting everything organized and ready to be handed out. So the plan for the day is as the line grows there's going to be one, two, three, four people who are going to start to give them tickets. 55, 56, 57.

And they say okay please do not lose your slip otherwise you will lose your spot in line. Because that's a huge thing we learned. Whoever stopped the car is here. Please, let me take care of this. It's okay, I don't want to argue. People were fighting. I'm like, I can't believe it. You know, you guys don't fight, please.

Okay, for now, just let it be. Please. It's one extra person right now. Just let it be. It's okay. So it just starts at 10.30, so we're going to have a team. What time is it? Is it almost time? Almost. Oh, five minutes. Let me go tell Kelsey where she is.

Oh, give me a second. Dillard! Dillard! 10.25, get Kelsey. Do the group. Okay, we're going to start, guys. At 10.30, after hours of volunteer prep work and hours of people waiting in line, it's finally time to give out food. Go, guys. Who's my number one? You're number one.

Vamos aqui. Que paso? Hold this. Thank you, auntie. Come this way. One after another, people step up with their empty bags or carts and move down a line of volunteers. She gets the carrots, the watermelon, then the beets, then the onions, and then we get the cucumbers, the canned fruits, tuna, and tomatoes. the canned fruits, tuna, and tomatoes. And then we get rice, and then we get the beans,

and a gallon of milk. Oh, and we got eggs, egg whites. Wonderful. There you go. And then you're also gonna get cilantro. Thank you, ma'am. Okay, thank you. You already got cilantro, right? As people start to be served, we take a walk down the block to meet folks who are waiting.

Hi there. Hi. Can you give your name? What's your name? My name is Sabira. How old are you? I'm 55. I'm unemployed because our store fired us because the store filed for bankruptcy. I was registered as a cashier.

How long have you been coming here? Already like a second month, I think. We found out that they're giving food, and we started coming. And what time did you get here today? I came here around 4 o'clock, and I just put my card. 4 a.m.? Yes, 4 a.m. to put my card, and I go home, and I come back at 8 o'clock and I just put my card. 4 a.m.? Yes, 4 a.m. to put my card and go home and come back at 8 o'clock. How long have you been coming here to this pantry?

About two months. About six months. Last week I came and that's it. May I ask how old you are? I'm 14. 14, and how long have you been coming to this food pantry? I'd say a few months, basically, because my mom, she worked at a nursing home. And my dad, he used to be like a food vendor.

We had no source of income, so we had to resort to here, and it was very helpful. We heard this kind of stuff from nearly everybody, that they started coming only in the past few months. And they had to come because of job losses due to the pandemic. I'm working for the hotel, housekeeper. Making donut, Dunkin' Donut. I sing opera. I worked at Stouffer's package department. How did you feel coming to the pantries the first time?

Oh my goodness, I feel so depressed. Because I never go to the line for food. Because I've been working, I have 30 years in the company working. So I said, oh my God. But, you know, it does help a lot. What's your name? Natasha. Natasha. And how old are you, Natasha?

I'm 32. When did you start coming? So when the COVID-19 started, that's when we started coming because my husband has lost his job and I have two kids. What did your husband do for a living? Oh, so he's a cab driver. Yeah, and it was very, very, very hard for us because before I would think that food pantries is um something like you

where people go they're homeless people but i didn't know that we as a family we would be ever in need what did you see in your kitchen or what did you not see in your kitchen where you thought i have to go to the pantry yeah before like we were able to we could go to the store at any time we want we buy any kind of snacks for the kids to have lots of vegetables a lot of fruits a lot of you know whole grain pasta and all this and my older one is four he was used to going to the store with us and buying whatever he wanted. So it was not an easy task to explain to him that right now we're just not able to do that. But slowly, slowly, he understands. And now whenever we go to the store, he's like, okay, how much is this?

And how much is this? Can we afford that? Yeah. You talked about snacks for your kids. afford that yeah you talked about snacks for your kids what have you not been able to give them that you could before your husband lost his job mostly fruit fruit what's your favorite fruit my favorite or their favorite fruit so they really like cantaloupe yeah they really like cantaloupe. Yeah, they really like cantaloupe and watermelon. And that's what I like too. The watermelon and cantaloupe, you know.

All right, so let's go over there. Hi. Hi there. Hi, good. What time did you get here today? Oh, I get like 8, 8.30, yeah. And how long have you been coming to the pantry? Oh, this is the first time I'm coming here. Oh, this is the first time? Yes. I heard this is a halal place, and I'm a

Muslim, and I'd like to come here to get like halal food. Okay, how old are you? I'm 25. Okay, and are you working right now? I actually work in Burger King. And they are open right now, but I am really scared to go there because I have, like, old parents to take care of. And I'm living in a, like, one-bedroom apartment, so I don't have a place to quarantine for them. So, yeah, it's a really hard time for us. I don't know how i say the word it's like i feel like i'm a poor person right now and out of money i never thought about it because i thought like usa is a dream

place where i can live my life i mean if it's not like wearing a mask, then I would never come, I think. Because of the mask, I think it's, I feel like I can protect my identity. Like no one can see me and I can come here and get food. What would you be afraid of if you weren't wearing a mask? Why not come? Because like maybe my neighbor or maybe someone will see me and I don't want to be in the situation to get free foods because I can work but this is like a nightmare for us. Oh, okay.

But actually I didn't know there would be a long line. So yeah, I feel like, now I feel like i'm not alone like that yeah so my name is stella what's your name i'm maria maria and may i ask um how old you are uh 28 and uh i see that you have one on the way. How many months are you? Seven and a half. Seven and a half. Well, almost there. And you're carrying so many bags right now. Yeah. Thank you. And what made you first start coming to the pantry?

Because I lost my job. I was working on the daycare. I mean, we have to eat. I'm a single mother and I'm pregnant and I said, oh my God, what am I going to do? So it was horrible for me. I mean, I'm supposed to have twins, but for this virus, it's like, and I lost my job, so it was like depressed and everything. So I lost one. But it's so, it was difficult. But now it's much better. Yeah, thank God. And this has helped a lot.

Do you know what you're having? A girl. Do you have a name yet? Yes. Yes, it's Ayana. Why Ayana? It's Ayana, it's a Mexican name. It's for our village.

So it means gift from the sky. In the future, maybe could have like strong woman like right now before she born she's like fight for the life and everything so I think she's gonna be a great woman fighter and everything yeah that's what I think. Yeah. What number are you on? 678. And we still have three hours to go. We'll be right back. Keep moving, keep moving.

Need you to keep moving. Thank you so much. Quickly, guys. Now, free. Come on. Shall we get an update from Mohammed about the food situation? Can I ask you for an update about where we are with the amount of food? What have you run out of? I ran out of the milk.

Milk is on its way. I ran out of the milk. Milk is on its way. I ran out of the vegetables and I ran out of a whole bunch of other stuff. This really is slim picking. Remember when we first arrived, this whole tent was filled with food. And now I just see boxes and boxes of canned tomatoes. Some black beans. The watermelon is gone. The watermelons went first. What else was out here?

Like... Cauliflower, carrots, potatoes, onions. The carrots and potatoes, like, just gone. All the produce is gone. The produce is gone. And for a lot of people, that's like the most expensive thing, right? So like a bag of black beans, you could find for a dollar or two dollars. You know, produce is very different. Seeing this right now at, what time is it? At 2.20, it now gives me a better understanding

of why people were here at 4 AM and people were putting their carts down at 1 AM. Keep moving, keep moving, no, no. No, you cannot take the oil, I need you to move forward. No, I need you to move over. No, I need you to move over. Hey, hey. Seems like a fight over whether or not she can have more oil. Is this only one bag or is it already? No, no, no.

This one? No. That must be so hard. It is, it is, because everybody's saying, you know, they need, I know everybody needs, but we've got to share with everyone. And that's the objective. Oh, I'm so worried. I'm still waiting on my milk.

What are you worried about? I was supposed to get 10 pallets of milk and yogurt, which also I wanted to distribute. And it hasn't come. It hasn't come, so, you know, it happens. And so what's happened with the line? So we told them to wait because in nine minutes I should have a truck here.

Oh, nine minutes? Yeah, hopefully in nine minutes. So I'm waiting on it. No, he said 2.30, so it's 2.30. Mohammed stops the line just before 2.30 to wait for a big shipment of milk and yogurt to arrive. It's now nearly four hours since the food started to be distributed. just before 2.30 to wait for a big shipment of milk and yogurt to arrive. It's now nearly four hours since the food started to be distributed. I can be patient, it's fine. Do you want to wait for the milk? Yes, of course. Okay, gotcha.

It's 2.40 in the afternoon. The milk and the yogurt was supposed to arrive at 2.30, and it's still not here. And now people are getting upset. I just needed a cigarette break. Ah, you know what I'm saying, but I can't have one. I don't know what else to do, okay? There's just a lot of tension, and that's what I've seen in pretty much every pantry I have gone to. There is some kind of complaint or argument either between people who are in line or the people in line versus

the volunteers. It must be so frustrating to be at the mercy of whenever the food arrives. Well, here's the thing about, you know, covering poverty. What hurts me the most is, like, the lack of choices and the waiting. People who, like, have nothing, like, the waiting is horrible. is horrible. I don't think people understand how valuable time is and, you know, the time you have to take. Yeah. For most of my life, I tried not to think about the stuff.

I didn't want to think about poverty. So most of my journalistic career, I spent covering politics and political corruption. And then in 2015, the Times asked me if I would be interested in covering social services. And I had to ask myself why I hadn't covered social services in all the years that I had been a reporter. And I realized that it was just because it hit too close to home. just because it hit too close to home. My family went in and out of poverty. Sometimes there were like these great prosperous times and there were other times that we were on food stamps. And I have those memories of going to pick up my free lunch card. Sometimes I didn't go pick it up because I was afraid

someone would see me and other kids would be like, oh, why aren't you eating today? And I'd be like, oh, I'm not hungry. And that was so not true. I was starving. And for the most part, my family kept food, but there were times when, you know, the food stamps had run out and it wasn't the first of the month yet. And I remember this time when my mom was at work, my sister and I, we opened the refrigerator, we opened the freezer, and there was very little there except for these two frozen burritos. We had been washing the dishes and when I went to open my burrito, it fell into the soapy water and I couldn't eat it. And I remember my sister split her burrito with me. And that's what we ate that day. And it's something I'll never forget. Just thinking about that sharing

and the necessity of sharing. And so it's really hit me during the pandemic, reporting on the people who've been in the lines. Because I think about, you know, those frozen burritos. And there's this tendency for people like me,'ve experienced poverty to not talk about it. You want to forget about it like it didn't happen. But if we all keep this secret, it creates a stigma where there shouldn't be one. So I'm glad I'm able to talk about my family's poverty now, at least a little bit. Did anyone?

Yeah, where's the truck? I don't know. It must be down there. I have had the feeling that the truck is about to arrive for about 45 minutes now. The line's gotten longer. I know, I thought it was going to be over and then I'm like, oh, more people have shown up now. Around 3 o'clock. And it looks like this is it.

The dairy truck finally arrives. Volunteers get to work unloading it, and Mohammed starts the line moving again. How do you feel now? I feel so good now. I just wanted to get that stuff done. No, you've got to go on. It's okay. it's all good.

I'm not gonna drink all that milk. The line is back on Avenue H. We'll take a walk. What's that? The line is back to Avenue H. Oh no. For another hour, Mohamed and his dozens of volunteers shepherd person after person through the line,

giving out whatever they've got left. How do you feel about what you ended up getting today? Actually, I feel really great because they gave us the organic milk, organic chocolate that's great for my kids they love chocolate milk yogurt it's also organic so my kids would love that cucumbers are good for salad i love that too i find this food super healthy and I am so grateful for the opportunity to be here and to get the free food. Awesome. Thank you so much. Okay, thank you, sweetie.

Take care. By four o'clock, the sidewalk that had been filled with people all day is empty. It's all good. What do you say? Thank God. Thank God we were able to get everybody on the line. Yeah, yeah. I just don't want anybody to turn away.

Yeah. You know, because they're here. They need. Yeah. Everybody on the line. I just don't want anybody to turn away. You know, because they're here. They need. It feels good, you know. You got to count your blessings. I mean, it's a blessing for us to be in these people's lives, you know. For me, it definitely is. This is Ali, one of COPO's staff members.

It's a big thing going on over here. I hope it continues. I really do hope it continues after December 31st. Because that's like the cutoff right now. We don't know what to do after that. What do you mean that's the cutoff? In terms of funding. This is private foundation. The city didn't give us anything. So we're trying to get money from the city to continue this, but no, they're doing a lot of cuts in the budget. So most pantries in the city operate through private funding, and there are these big question marks about how they'll manage this winter

when the pandemic is expected to get even worse. In the past, before the pandemic, a lot of the pantries relied on big-time contributors who could give, you know, $100,000, $500,000, a million dollars. And that money has kind of dried up. I talked to this one director. He's been calling all of his big-time contributors, and they're saying right now they don't know what the stock market is going to do,

so they don't know what they're going to be able to give. This is all really bad news for millions of New Yorkers who are getting in line these days and tens of millions of people around the country who rely on pantries for their literal survival. You show up at a pantry and you wait for hours and they might run out of food. And if you're struggling financially, you can give up certain things. You can give up new clothes and maybe you don't give gifts to your kids or your grandkids this Christmas. But you can't not eat. Thank you so much for coming. Please, right this way. Let me just get my last ravioli out.

Muhammad has been on his feet for nine hours nonstop. Thank you. Oh, no, thank you for being here, guys. And he's a little worse for wear. So should we take account of your state at the end of the day? You have a bloody finger. Oh, man, that's okay. You have a lost voice, and you have dog poop on your shoe.

Oh, no. I got to wash my feet but it's beautiful there's no line there's no line all right thanks so much god bless take care guys thank you so much i really appreciate it thank you Thank you. Hey, good morning. Good morning, Mohamed. How are you? I'm doing wonderful. Good. Thank you for taking my call. I know it's a busy time. Yes, absolutely. So talk to me. What's going on? Well, so I guess I'll start here. So when we visited you last, it was already six months into the pandemic and people were making the food pantry into a routine.

But now it's November, it's getting cold, it's getting dark, we're heading into the winter and the holidays. And it feels like it would be more difficult now to wait outside the food pantry for hours. And I just wonder, have you felt a change in people's mood or their approach to the food pantry as it's gotten colder? The mood hasn't changed, but they're still in need. I don't know what's going to happen, but we're trying to purchase these heaters. You've never seen in the restaurants, the heaters are in the tents outside. It looks like a little umbrella. Right.

So they get a little bit of warmth and we're trying to see how we're going to speed it up. Right. You know, we're just trying. Yeah. Well, tomorrow is Friday. And so that is the food pantries day. And will you be opening?

Yeah, we are. We got like, i'm receiving right now as we speak about i don't know a few hundred turkeys for thanksgiving so i was yeah they called me yesterday they said mo you're gonna have turkeys i said oh thank god you know i was almost in tears i was like i didn't know what i was gonna do for thanksgiving for the people you know so they're sending me a trailer of turkey and i'm like oh my god it's gonna be so great so we're gonna be able to distribute it tomorrow. And people are going to be so happy.

And in terms of like, because last time the line was around the block. And so are you still seeing people wait around the block? Oh, yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. There's no way. Yeah.

I mean, I was just listening to the news. There's no stimulus check or nothing. They're in a deadlock and it's it's going to be even more difficult because it's going to be finished on december i think 31st you know the unemployment checks the assistance that the federal government's giving so it's really really more stressful what's going to happen with the people and you mentioned that your own funding could run out by the end of the year. Is that still the case? Yes, for the food pantry, it's still the case. And we're actually talking to our board members and our private donors trying to figure out how we can raise more funds. You know, we need to. What happens on January 1st if you don't have more funding?

don't have more funding? Honestly, I'm going to, I mean, my staff, I'm going to ask them, please be volunteers for now. Right now I have staff, almost one, two, three, four, five, six staff members. And it might go down to like two staff members and continue on a smaller base. And we're going to just dwindle down. We'll probably cut the hours less. I don't know what else to do. Right. cut the hours less. I don't know what else to do. Right. How are you feeling about those changes and sort of looking at the end of the year?

I'm very stressed out because we really don't want to stop this program at all now. Okay, well, thank you so much, Mohamed. Good luck. All right, God bless. Bye-bye. Thanks, thank you so much, Mohamed. Good luck. All right. God bless. Bye-bye. Thanks. Bye-bye. We'll be right back.

Here's what else you need to nerday. Here's what else you need to nerday. On Tuesday, Pennsylvania, Nevada, and Minnesota all certified Joe Biden's election victory, rebuffing efforts by President Trump to delay the process. Those certifications, combined with those in Georgia and Michigan, have left Trump with few ways to block or overturn the election results. And U.S. stock markets surged to record levels on Tuesday after the Trump administration began the transfer of power to Biden and after Biden appointed Janet Yellen,

an advocate of government intervention in the economy, as his Treasury Secretary. The stock market Dow Jones Industrial Average just hit 30,000, which is the highest in history. We've never broken 30,000. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, which fell below 20,000 points at the start of the pandemic, surpassed 30,000 on Tuesday, a milestone that President Trump, during a news conference, called historic. That's a sacred number, 30,000. Nobody thought they'd ever see it. That's it for The Daily. I'm Michael Barbaro.

See you on Monday after the holiday.