The government shutdown had New Yorkers who depend on food assistance, like SNAP, checking their EBT cards as they experienced funding delays.<\/p>\n
For some public housing residents at Harborview Terrace in Hell\u2019s Kitchen, a food pantry crammed in a small space was a lifeline.<\/p>\n
What You Need To Know<\/b><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/b><\/p>\n \u201cThe little bit of food that they give is very helpful. It\u2019s a blessing,\u201d Monserrate Sanchez, who has been living at Harborview for more than two decades, said.<\/p>\n Around 1.8 million New Yorkers rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, including Sanchez.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not a rich person, and I depend on that, you know what I mean, that\u2019s really helpful,\u201d said Sanchez, who called the last few weeks, \u201cstressing.\u201d<\/p>\n Sanchez usually receives around $300 every month from the federal government. Earlier this week, her EBT card was filled thanks to New York State stepping in when the government remained closed.<\/p>\n \u201cOh yeah! Yeah, I was able to do some [grocery] shopping,\u201d she said when asked by NY1 if she\u2019s happy to have her EBT funding.<\/p>\n Another happy resident is Ruby Anderson, also a SNAP recipient, who is raising her granddaughter. She\u2019s been living at Harborview for nearly three decades.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m just praying that they don\u2019t change it again, but we finally got it three days ago,\u201d referring to the EBT funding she received through the state.<\/p>\n Tenant Association President Maria Guzman has lived in Haborview Terrace for nearly half a century and runs the food pantry. She says the government shutdown worsened an already difficult situation for residents who were struggling to feed their families.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople depend on that card, and the amount of money they put in that card, to feed their families. So there was a panic,\u201d Guzman said. \u201cAnd people were wondering, \u2018so where am I gonna get my food from?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n The food donations come from the nonprofit Social Service Board with the New York Society for Ethical Culture. They are ramping up what had been a once-a-month food pantry.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re going to do it twice a month instead of once a month because we realize the enormous need that there is for food in this community,\u201d Guzman said.<\/p>\n She believes that withholding SNAP benefits from low-income New Yorkers is cruel.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat went on with SNAP, I think it\u2019s a crime,\u201d she said. \u201cIt breaks my heart. We do what we can.\u201d<\/p>\n Another resident at the food pantry, Donna Malone, says the last few weeks have been \u201cvery, very stressful.\u201d She\u2019s grateful to finally have full funding on her EBT card.<\/p>\n \u201cI was blessed to get the full amount,\u201d Malone said.<\/p>\n Malone, who has been living at Harborview for more than four decades, has been raising her three grandchildren \u2014 ages 10, 11 and 14.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is how I get help to take care of them,\u201d she said, referring to her SNAP benefits. \u201cI get money myself, but I just don\u2019t have enough to take care of them \u2014 and you know, I thank God for it even though it\u2019s not enough, it\u2019s still something and I appreciate it,\u201d Malone said.<\/p>\n The Social Service Board says it relies on an endowment, donations from community members and food drives from nearby buildings to meet the needs of public housing residents at Harborview Terrace and Amsterdam Addition.<\/p>\n The nonprofit is meeting an increasing need by buying more food. In the case of Harborview \u2014 going from 60 food bags to 75 food bags at each food pantry event.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The government shutdown had New Yorkers who depend on food assistance, like SNAP, checking their EBT cards as…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":379789,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,13565,7448,405,403,50,5226,5225,95983,5228,43431,5227,80,52,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,5284],"class_list":{"0":"post-379788","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-app-local-state-politics","10":"tag-app-top-stories","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-new-york-city","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-newyork","15":"tag-newyorkcity","16":"tag-noorulain-khawaja","17":"tag-ny","18":"tag-ny-state-of-politics-blog","19":"tag-nyc","20":"tag-politics","21":"tag-top-stories","22":"tag-united-states","23":"tag-united-states-of-america","24":"tag-unitedstates","25":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","26":"tag-us","27":"tag-usa","28":"tag-vod"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115551527556250519","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379788","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=379788"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379788\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/379789"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=379788"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=379788"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=379788"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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