New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio assured Bronxites that no New Yorker would go hungry during the COVID-19 pandemic when he paid a visit to the Kingsbrige Armory on Saturday, Apr. 18, along with Bronx Borough President, Ruben Diaz Jr., and number of other City agency officials. “My message today is simple,” he said. “We will not let any New Yorker go hungry – period. If you need food, we will get it to you.”

 

The armory has been transformed into a temporary food distribution center, one of eight set up in recent weeks all over the City in order to distribute food to New Yorkers most in need. “I want everyone to understand the sheer magnitude of what is happening here,” the mayor said. “It’s unbelievable – 14,000 meals came out of the armory here on Monday to help folks in the Bronx who needed food to eat, 20,000 meals will go out today, 30,000 meals will go out tomorrow [Sunday].”

The mayor commended all those who came together to support the initiative which he said was the brainchild of the City’s sanitation department, was set up by the Parks’ department under the auspices of Commissioner Mitch Silver, and which is a joint effort in conjunction with the Office of Emergency Management (OEM), the Taxi & Limousine Commission (TLC), and the National Guard. Two retired Sanitation chiefs, Matt Molloy and Mike Lee, run the site.

 

“Every single New Yorker is feeling this crisis,” de Blasio said. “Everybody either knows someone who has this disease or knows someone we’ve lost or who is fighting this disease themselves, or their family is.” He was quick to acknowledge that people needed food through no fault of their own, citing the thousands who had a job a month ago but don’t anymore. “We’re talking about so many people who never had to ask for food before,” he said.

 

“What we’re seeing all over this city is the deepest kind of need, and it came on so suddenly,” he added. “It’s nothing we have ever seen in generations in this city. There are a lot of people right now who are hungry. There are a lot of people asking, ‘Where will my next meal come from?’ It’s a shocking reality. Out of nowhere, this virus took away people’s livelihoods.”

 

NYS Department of Labor statistics for March broadly reflected the growing impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, but could not precisely quantify the effects on the job market since the March survey period predated many coronavirus-related business and school closures, as well as the statewide “New York State on PAUSE” executive order.

 

The pre-closure survey data reported gains in educational and health services (+25,400), professional and business services (+17,600), and other services (+5,700). Losses were reported in trade, transportation, and utilities (-11,800), leisure and hospitality (-11,300), financial activities (-7,800), natural resources, mining, and construction (-3,500), information (-1,200), and manufacturing (-900). These figures will clearly be revised once the full official impact of the pandemic is accounted for in April.

 

Despite the bleak circumstances, the mayor said he was proud of the way New Yorkers have pulled together to help one another. “There’s tremendous insecurity,” he said. “Think about what it feels like to everyone who has to wonder where their next meal is coming from – how much fear, how much anxiety that creates. But in the face of that, so many people you see here stepped up and they knew they had to do something quick to make sure people could get food.”

He also credited the ingenuity and creativity of all the volunteers and city officials who came together to make the food centers a reality. “Think about even in the midst of a crisis what the people of this city do,” he said. “We’re talking about something where there wasn’t a system to feed millions of people but it had to be created on the spot.”

 

He credited the efforts of all city agencies, highlighting in particular the “army” of 11,000 TLC licensed drivers who were needed to deliver the food once it was ready. “I’m talking about yellow cab drivers, green cab drivers, Uber drivers, Lyft drivers, you name it,” he said.

 

“Folks who had little or no income themselves, and think about the power of turning to them and giving them a chance to do something good, giving them a paycheck. Now, they are delivering right to the homes and the apartments of people who eat food the most – seniors, folks who are disabled, folks who have no other choice, who had no other way to get food,” he said.

The mayor also used the occasion to highlight the wider efforts of the OEM in getting much-needed supplies to hospitals. “Literally every single New Yorker – 8.6 million people have benefited and have been supported in one way or another by the efforts of the agency,” he said. “Out of this horrifying crisis – something beautiful, something powerful – people stepping up to help each other, people putting ideas together we never saw before to help their fellow New Yorkers.”

 

Afterwards, Kathryn Garcia, Sanitation commissioner and Covid-19 Food Czar for New York City, similarly thanked all those involved in the effort, saying the City had initially estimated four and a half million food meals would be needed but that that need had quickly grown. “As of yesterday night [Friday], we were at close to six million meals so the need is great and we are ramping up to meet that need,” she said. “As I have said before, we are not going to compound the tragedy of the virus with the tragedy of hunger for the most vulnerable, for those who can’t get out as normal.”

The mayor concluded by thanking everyone again and by urging anyone in need of food to call 311 or go to nyc.gov/getfood. “Everyone who is doing this work, you’re doing the Lord’s work. This is absolutely amazing. Thank you. God bless you all,” he said.