On March 18, 2020, Governor Cuomo announced that school buildings across New York would close due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Many nutrition directors and nonprofit leaders only had a few days to figure out how to provide food in a new socially distanced world. Despite these challenges, school districts and community organizations made incredible adjustments to their programs and were able to serve meals to their communities during the crisis. We’re pleased to share the stories of actions taken by some of our grantees during the earliest days of the pandemic.
For 40 years, Long Island Cares, a hunger assistance organization on Long Island, has served thousands of families and individuals each year in Nassau and Suffolk counties – striving to meet Long Islanders’ needs for immediate emergency food relief and to also eliminate underlying root causes of hunger.
When schools closed on Long Island in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Long Island Cares sprung into action to make sure that families of the K-12 students who were currently participating in their Pack It Up For Kids weekend backpack program did not experience any lag in nutrition during what was already shaping up to be a very uncertain and turbulent time. These families, identified by school social workers before the COVID-19 pandemic as at-risk of not having nutritious meals available to them over the weekend, were receiving a pre-packaged meal box intended to fill the family’s nutritious gap when children did not have access to breakfast and lunch options at their schools.
Thanks to a grant from No Kid Hungry, Long Island Cares was able to keep the program operating for families at multiple participating schools from April to June. During this timeframe, Long Island Cares volunteers and staff procured items, packed boxes and delivered them to schools, and then schools distributed the weekend boxes to families on Thursdays and Fridays. For students whose schools weren’t giving away grab and go boxes, school staff volunteered to deliver to these kids’ homes.
During these three months, Long Island Cares distributed more than 70,000 meals to 284 families through 1,947 food boxes. Typically, Long Island Cares and their volunteers do not often interact with the children and families receiving the weekend food boxes. During their COVID-19 service, however, they were able to meet many of these families and were struck by the ways that their community rallied around their support – from kids dancing on the porch when the food boxes were delivered to parents expressing what this meant to them.
One volunteer was particularly moved by an experience he had with a family where the father had been recently diagnosed with COVID-19. When the volunteer delivered the food box to the house, the man burst into tears and shared his relief that his community could take care of his family when he wasn’t able to.
Pictured: A Long Island Cares volunteer carries a COVID-19 Emergency Food Box to load into the van in preparation for distribution at East Quogue School.
These stories are mirrored in communities across New York and throughout the nation. No Kid Hungry New York is grateful to all the hunger heroes who have adjusted their plans at the turn of a dime to feed kids in their communities. Their dedication and tireless work have ensured that kids have the nutritious meals they need to grow up healthy and strong.