Posted on August 22, 2016 by Lili Holzer-Glier in The Wilson Quarterly The Wilson Quarterly, By Lili Holzer-Glier A line of wilting people snakes across the busy Brooklyn sidewalk. Families cluster beneath a few sparse trees and flatten themselves under narrow awnings, some sinking to the ground, seeking a sliver of shade. Most people have been waiting two to three hours to pick up a small bag of groceries at the Brooklyn Faith SDA Church food pantry in the East Flatbush neighborhood. “Trust me,” says pantry director, Barbara Joseph, “People would not be here if there wasn’t a real and pressing need.” The New York State unemployment rate fell to 4.7% in May 2016, its lowest level since 2007, but many families are still struggling to find enough full-time work to keep a roof overhead and food on the table. Some 1.4 million New Yorkers struggle with food insecurity, and although Food Bank For New York City delivers 300,000 pounds of food per day, that is still not enough to close the yawning meal gap.
