What to Know
- New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Thursday that the state's $25 million initiative Nourish New York has bought excess agricultural products from upstate farms to donate to food banks
- The initiative's goal is to ensure that families throughout the state have enough to eat while grappling with the economic fallout and food insecurity brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic
- To date, Nourish New York has purchased food and products from more than 2,100 New York farms and provided support to nearly 50 food banks, soup kitchens and food pantries to date. Within the next week, more than 20,000 households across the state will receive Nourish New York products
To ensure that families throughout the state have enough to eat while grappling with the economic fallout and food insecurity brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Thursday that the state's $25 million initiative Nourish New York has bought excess agricultural products from upstate farms to donate to food banks.
According to Cuomo, the majority of New Yorkers live paycheck to paycheck, making that the one-time check from the federal government COVID-19 economic stimulus package and unemployment benefits simply not enough for families to make ends meet. Knowing this and knowing that there are farmers in upstate New York who are having difficulty selling their products due to the economic hardships presented by the pandemic, the state has come up with an initiative that addresses both struggles.
"We have a problem in upstate new York where many of the farms can’t sell their products. There were farmers literally just dumping milk that the dairy farmers had produced, but at the same time you have people in downstate new York who are going hungry and can’t buy, can’t pay for enough food," Cuomo said, adding that there is "tremendous demand" on food banks.
The governor went on to say: "It makes no sense to have upstate farmers who can’t sell their products and downstate families that can’t get enough to eat. So we have been funding efforts to connect the farmers to the downstate food banks and we’ve done that with about $25 million to what we call our Nourish New York Initiative."
Cuomo announced the initiative on April 27. To date, Nourish New York has purchased food and products from more than 2,100 New York farms and provided support to nearly 50 food banks, soup kitchens and food pantries. Within the next week, more than 20,000 households across the state will receive Nourish New York products.
"We want to continue doing that. The state budget is very, very tight right now with what is going on with the economy. So philanthropies, foundations -- there are a lot of people who want to help -- this is a great cause and I would suggest that they help so we can do even more," the governor said about anyone interested in assisting the cause.
News
The state is asking philanthropies or foundations that would like to help the state's food banks to contact COVIDPhilanthropies@exec.ny.gov.
According to state officials, over the next six months, Nourish New York will produce 2.8 million gallons of milk, 8.2 million units of yogurt, 10.1 million pounds of cabbage.
New York City, meanwhile, continues to offer three free meals a day to all New Yorkers at more than 400 locations. Mayor Bill de Blasio recently announced a $170 million food initiative to help people struggling now and ensure the city has enough food reserves to meet future demand.
The mayor, along with his wife Chirlane McCray, also expanded the city's Food for Heroes program, which has been bringing meals to workers on the front lines of the battle against COVID-19. Since April 15, 1,250 staff members at Queens' Elmhurst Hospital had received two grab-and-go meals per day. Now, the program will extend to an additional 2,000 health care workers, and aims to give out 75,000 meals by mid-May.
