Feeding Hungry Families in Need

Through the Cardinal McCloskey Emergency Food Pantry thousands of hungry Bronx children and their families are provided with over 50,000 meals each year. The CMS Food Pantry is located at CMS's South Bronx Family Outreach Center on Southern Boulevard. On average, the food pantry serves nearly 500 people each month, 170 being children. In East Harlem, the Pantry serves over 31,000 meals each year. Three hundred people plus are served monthly, 100 being children.

The food pantry maintains a supply of canned goods such as soups and vegetables, packaged foods such as rice and cereal, frozen meats, fresh fruit and vegetable produce and packaged milk. The food is available to families and individuals who come to our pantries asking for emergency food assistance. Most families come when there is a major change in their lives -sudden unemployment, the illness or loss of a family member or some other financial hardship.

Families are provided with "food packages" with enough food for 9 meals - 3 meals a day for 3 days. Generally families are provided with cereal, canned milk, rice, frozen chicken, soup, canned vegetables and fruit and an assortment of fresh vegetables and fruits. Baby formula and diapers are also available. For many families, the food pantry is the difference between eating and going hungry.

Food and funding to purchase food for the food pantry are provided through a variety of sources: the NYC Human Resources Administration - Office of Domestic Violence and Emergency Intervention Services' Emergency Food Assistance Program (EFAP); the United Way of NYC's Hunger Prevention & Nutrition Assistance Program (HPNAP); the Food For Survival Food Bank and FEMA XVIII. During the holiday seasons, generous patrons often provide frozen turkeys for families in need.

In the Aftermath of September 11

In the first few months following the September 2001 terrorist attacks, the Cardinal McCloskey Emergency Food Pantry gave out over 50% more food packages than during previous months. Through the winter following the attacks, the food pantry continued to provide 35 - 40% more packages than during the previous year. Many of the families who came requesting food packages indicated that they were impacted by the attacks - either having lost their jobs, or by having a family member who provided financial support who was out of work.

More than a year later, the need for emergency food supplies has remained greater than it was prior to September 11, 2001 - and the need seems to continue to grow. The food pantry has served 20% more people this year than it did during the same period last year.