City Harvest Finds Spike in Food Need Due to COVID-19

Following the COVID-19 pandemic, more New Yorkers than ever are relying on food banks for their meals.

While nearly a third of the food banks in New York have shuttered, City Harvest, New York City’s largest food rescue organization, is working at 177 percent overdrive to feed the New Yorkers that are in need of food. The organization has been running 24 hours a day, five days a week and they have distributed over 22.2 million pounds of food. 

As the need for food continues to grow, City Harvest is creating new plans to prepare for food shortages to make sure no one goes hungry. The organization expects to rescue and deliver 17 million more pounds of food than projected.

“To me, the pandemic has set a new precedent. I've seen first-hand the lines at food pantries. When I get off work, there's a food pantry called Catholic Charities that I pass every day. Now, the line is literally a square-block, and I've never seen anything like it, even through Sandy, 9/11, and the partial-government shut down. One day, I saw the line at the pantry, and I stopped and asked one of the staff members, ‘Do you have enough food to feed all of the people lined up?’ He took me around the corner and guess what was there—a City Harvest tractor-trailer delivering food. It sent chills through me,” said Lex Wilder, Food Operations Liaison.

Learn more about City Harvest here.