Food Bank For New York City Celebrates Graduation of Third Annual Masterclass Cohort

For Food Bank For New York City donors Josh and Tara Greenspan, giving back is a family affair. Since becoming supporters of Food Bank in 2020, Josh and his wife have made it a priority to involve their entire family—not just in donating but in dedicating their time to helping others. When the pair discovered Food Bank’s Family Repacks at our Warehouse & Distribution Center in the Bronx, it seemed like the perfect way to engage the whole family. "My wife and I want to raise our kids to be people who help, who feel part of something bigger,” Josh shared. “Maybe they’ll give financially, but we hope their experiences with Food Bank inspire them to roll up their sleeves and serve.” For more on Josh and the Greenspan clan, read below! Food Bank For New York City donor Josh Greenspan with his family at a recent Food Bank Family Repack. Why did you choose to support Food Bank For New York City? It wasn’t an epiphany, but more of a realization. We have two kids—my daughter is turning 15, and my son is 12—and we wanted to show them how they can use their privilege to help others. For the first ten years of their lives, we donated to charitable causes, but we weren't actively giving our time. So, we researched organizations and saw that Food Bank For NYC not only maximizes donations to directly serve those in need, but also offers volunteer opportunities for families. We wanted a local organization where we could see the impact on our community, whether on our direct neighbors or indirect neighbors across the five boroughs. We finally signed up for a Family Repack, and it was a fantastic experience. Now, it’s become a quarterly tradition. We drive up from Long Island to the Bronx, and my kids—who aren’t morning people—jump out of bed for it! What did you enjoy most about the Family Repack? The volunteer coordinators are great with kids and split families into different packing stations. It was so rewarding to look over and see my kids on an assembly line, carefully packing food. There’s only so much satisfaction you get from clicking “donate,” but watching my children actively help in such a meaningful way was a powerful experience. Food Bank For NYC donor Josh Greenspan’s children working the assembly line at a recent Food Bank Family Repack. How does family support you in tough times? I grew up in a close-knit family. When things got tough, everyone circled the wagon, including our extended family of neighbors and friends. My parents’ friends felt like family—they were always there with food, support, and help during difficult times. Now, we have a similar network for our kids, and we’ve faced our own challenges, from health scares to losing loved ones. Those people are the first to step in, no questions asked. That’s what being part of a community means and it’s one of the things I love most about New York, that strangers can become family in an instant. What advice would you give families thinking about getting involved with Food Bank For NYC? Just do it! The hardest part is overcoming the initial inertia. We were the same way until we took that first step and got our family involved with Food Bank’s Warehouse Repacks. You’ll never regret spending time doing good with the people you love. Join the Greenspan family in supporting Food Bank For New York City's mission of empowering every New Yorker to achieve food security for good. Click here to make your gift and help provide meals for families across the five boroughs!

In honor of Asian American & Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month, we are celebrating Food Bank member agencies that uplift and serve our AAPI neighbors across the five boroughs. One of these agencies is the Center for Family Life, which operates in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. The Center was originally established in the late 1970s to support families in the neighborhood, the majority of whom were Spanish-speaking. Flash forward several decades, and while the Center and its mission have stayed intact, they've evolved to serve a new demographic — Mandarin-speaking New Yorkers, who now make up half of the community population. To reach these new neighbors, the Center for Family Life not only adapted its programming, but innovated solutions to empower them with the food, services, and specific resources they need to thrive. See how in our interview below, which covers the power of translation, the importance of person-to-person outreach, and a scamming problem plaguing Brooklynites in Sunset Park. A Center for Family Life community member receiving fresh radishes and eggs at a distribution. When and why were you first established? How has your mission changed to serve New Yorkers today? Cathy Vargas, Community Services Program Director: The Center was established in the 70s and 80s in New York City, so there was a lot going on *laughs*. Our approach has always been very tied to the neighborhood and originally began with a focus on family counseling. Since then, we've grown and become well known here in the neighborhood. Instead of expanding our services out, we've expanded our services deeper into our community. We now have an after-school program; two neighborhood centers; an enrichment center; a food pantry; benefits access, legal aid, and adult employment services; ESOL classes, work readiness programs... pretty much a one stop shop for everyone. When we started, we were primarily Spanish-speaking, but as we saw the AAPI community grow here in Sunset Park, our clientele became evenly split between those who speak Spanish and those who speak Mandarin. We started incorporating more staff and case planners into our work and now almost everyone here is bilingual, either with English/Spanish or English/Mandarin. Visitors to the Center are growing, thanks to rising grocery prices and an influx of newly arrived New Yorkers to the neighborhood. What are some of the unique struggles faced by the AAPI New Yorkers you serve? Tenzin Dhadon, Benefit Enroller: Many of our AAPI neighbors don't realize there are benefit services they can access for free. A coworker and I started going out to Sunset Park itself and approaching community members to let them know that they can come to us for food and help accessing things like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). We learned that there were a lot of scammers in the neighborhood telling folks that they had to pay for these services, which is not true. We've been able to build trust with AAPI families in the neighborhood, who now come to us for food and benefit enrollment and other services. Even the small thing of being able to read a letter, provide a simple translation for folks... it makes a huge difference. The person-to-person approach has really helped us spread the word about what we do. Fresh produce is a staple of the Center, as are a plethora of other services designed to empower its neighbors. What has it been like to greet new families and faces at the Center? Leomaris Fernandez, Food Pantry Supervisor: As more Mandarin-speaking neighbors started coming to us, I tried using some of the language on the line. Google translate was my best friend! *laughs*. When you're asking for their name, number, or how they're doing and you're speaking their language, folks cry, laugh, they want to hug you... that's how we started getting our regulars. When you don't know the language and you're trying to get food, it can be really scary. Then here comes this little Spanish girl speaking to you in Mandarin and it's this moment of "Wow, she knows how to ask me what I need." Sunset Park is still a large Hispanic community, so some of our clients are even trying to learn a little Spanish. Tenzin: Le had a Mandarin-speaking client who also happened to speak Spanish, so they worked together to communicate with our other neighbors. The truth is that we lean on our clients for support, too. Food distributions happen every day at the Center for Family Life, with special distributions for older New Yorkers and newly arrived families. How do you stay motivated to serve your community, even through all its changes? Cathy: For Le and I, we grew up in the neighborhood, we’re kind of used to it. When we see families that are paying for benefits, we get angry, we go "No, we're not doing that!" When we see newly arrived kids without jackets, we're parents, we're going to figure that out, we're going to help this community, our community, in any way possible. Sunset Park has always been an immigrant community and though those populations might change over time, we are first and foremost a community of mutual aid. If we can't figure it out, we figure it out. We are beyond humbled to partner with and provide food to community-based organizations like Center for Family Life that are doing the work to empower their neighbors with the food, resources, and services they need to thrive. Click here to learn more about and support these vital organizations.

Food Bank For New York City’s 2022 Pride Month theme is #ProudlyFed. For us, this means we not only serve the estimated 1 in 5 LGBTQ+ New Yorkers struggling to put food on the table, but that we do it with joy, love, and pride. We also recognize that food insecurity in the LGBTQ+ community is often compounded by things like workplace discrimination, healthcare inequality, and housing insecurity. A citywide survey conducted in 2017 found that over 18 percent of LGBTQ+ New Yorkers had experienced homelessness, with these numbers soaring up to 60 percent for individuals who identified as Black, Hispanic, transgender, or gender non-conforming. Over 20 percent of respondents also reported that they had been denied a promotion, not hired, or been forced to resign from a job due to their sexual orientation or gender identity. To address these diverse and varied challenges, we partner with and distribute food to community-based organizations that not only feed our LGBTQ+ neighbors, but work to provide them with free legal services, educational opportunities, healthcare enrollment assistance, and nutrition workshops. One such organization is Make the Road New York, a Food Bank member agency that serves immigrant, working-class, and transgender communities throughout Brooklyn and Queens. Make the Road doesn’t shy away from difference; on the contrary, the group finds power in bringing together New Yorkers from all different walks of life to advocate for collective change. To learn more about the group’s unique approach to service, we spoke with Mateo Guerrero-Tabares, the Trans Justice and Leadership Program Manager at Make the Road New York. Mateo pictured at Make the Road New York’s office in Queens. Photo credit: Feeding America. Mateo found his way to Make the Road in 2010 after arriving in New York City as an undocumented minor. He began his journey as both a client and volunteer, receiving aid from the organization to adjust his immigration status and stay permanently in the United States. Make the Road quickly became a “political home” for Mateo and was one of the first public spaces in which he felt comfortable embracing his identity as a transgender man. As he told us: “It was very special to be able to say, ‘Mateo, he/they pronouns’ and be uplifted and cared for in such a beautiful way.” Volunteers working the weekly food distribution at Make the Road New York. Photo credit: Feeding America. Now, in his role as the organization’s Trans Justice and Leadership Program Manager, he’s working to bring that same level of solidarity and support to the immigrant and transgender New Yorkers he serves, especially when it comes to providing them with reliable access to fresh, nutritious food. In fact, Mateo started a special “bike brigade” at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic to deliver groceries to nearly 400 families a week. It was a way to sustain the sense of togetherness that has long fueled Make the Road’s mission to build a more equitable future for New York City’s most marginalized residents. “I want our members to be able to define what it means to exist in New York — and not just survive — but have a dignified life,” he said. “That sense of pride comes from a place of resiliency and community.” Mateo pictured at Make the Road New York’s office in Queens. Photo credit: Feeding America. We couldn’t be prouder to partner with and provide food to organizations like Make the Road New York that put our LGBTQ+ neighbors first. For more on how we serve these New Yorkers now and throughout the year, click this link. You can also donate directly to our Pride Month fundraising campaign to help raise crucial funds for organizations just like Make the Road. Give here. *** A special thanks to Feeding America for partnering with us on a suite of stories featuring LGBTQ-serving agencies in our extensive member network of over 800 food pantries, soup kitchens, and campus partners across the five boroughs. View the stories here.