I Rise for Empowerment

At Food Bank, we are proud to be a grant recipient of the Grubhub Community Fund, which provides resources to organizations like ours to empower and support our neighbors. This Hunger Action Month, Grubhub has taken its partnership a step further by sponsoring our “Together We Rise” series, which features stories of resilience and strength from the folks who power our mission every day. One such person is Brett Swanson, the Head of Community Affairs and Social Impact at Grubhub, who spoke with us about what community means to him and how he stays motivated through tough times. Brett standing with Food Bank Senior Leadership at a pop-up food distribution during Hunger Action Month 2021. Where in NYC do you live? What’s something special about your neighborhood that people may not know? Greenpoint, Brooklyn. It gets its name from a piece of land jutting out into the East River that, to sailors passing by, literally appeared to be a "green point." The mid-to-late 1800s saw Greenpoint become a bustling center for industry, which drew many residents of Polish descent. What does community mean to you? It’s that bond that unifies all walks of life, and provides support to those most in need. What keeps you motivated when times get tough? Keeping things in perspective. We as individuals can sometimes be self-centered and narrow-minded, and helping our fellow community members helps alleviate the “world is against me” mentality. Standing with our neighbors and working with like-minded individuals is the easiest way to dig yourself out of a hole when times are tough. As inflation drives food, rent, and gas prices higher and higher across the city, how are you staying hopeful? Tough times can bring out the worst in people, but focusing on the positives, developing concrete goals, and putting plans into action allows me to constantly maintain hope. Yes, costs are high, but companies, non-profits, and city officials are rolling up their sleeves to see what they can do to help. I would like to thank city leadership for their constant support in the fight against food insecurity. We must be innovative and collaborative now more than ever, and Grubhub’s partnership with Food Bank aims to do just that. What do you rise for? I rise for unity and harmony. Food Bank For New York City’s “Together We Rise” series is presented by Grubhub, our Hunger Action Month partner whose immense generosity is enabling us to continue the work of feeding and nourishing ALL New Yorkers in these challenging times.

At Food Bank, we are proud to be a grant recipient of the Grubhub Community Fund, which provides resources to organizations like ours to empower and support our neighbors. This Hunger Action Month, Grubhub has taken its partnership a step further by sponsoring our “Together We Rise” series, which features stories of resilience and strength from the folks who power our mission every day. Patricia Raghunandan is the team lead at the Ozone Park Pantry, an organization that serves New Yorkers in the Queens neighborhoods of City Line, Ozone Park, Woodhaven, South Ozone Park, and beyond. Launched at the start of the pandemic, the Pantry now regularly reaches over 1,000 families throughout the borough, providing them with the culturally relevant food items they need to thrive. We caught up with Patricia as Food Bank’s Mobile Pantry Program stopped by for its monthly distribution with the Pantry to speak about the needs of her community and what she wants New Yorkers to know about the folks she proudly serves. Patricia (right) with volunteers at a Mobile Pantry distribution in Ozone Park last June. What is your name and what is your relationship to Food Bank? My name is Patricia Raghunandan and I am the lead at the Ozone Park food pantry. Every month, we partner with Food Bank’s Mobile Pantry Program to feed the local community. How many households do you think you’ll feed today? I would say maybe 200, maybe more. We give all of this food out, so we’ll be here until all of the different items are gone. Can you tell me about some of the food items? We always want to make sure that we have some sort of halal food because this neighborhood here in City Line has a lot of Muslim people, and they only use halal products. So, we make sure we have halal beef and halal chicken for them. We also want to provide fresh vegetables, which are prevalent in many of their traditional dishes. What would you like people to know about your community? This community is incredibly resilient. For many years, our Muslim neighbors here were afraid – there were attacks on Sikh people, uncertainty about where they could go to feel safe. I want people to know that this is a deserving community... we are often the last set of people to get food and other resources. We want more organizations to know that we need their help, that we need to raise awareness about food insecurity in our community. We want people to come out and help us and you can tell by the line today just how bad the problem is. Believe me, at our food pantry, we have people waiting in line at four o’clock in the morning for a distribution that starts at 7:30 am. If they didn’t need food, they wouldn’t be standing there. If it’s 0 °F, raining, 101 °F, they stand in that line, and the reason they stand in that line is because they need food. Has the problem gotten worse for your neighbors? The pandemic may be going down, but now food prices are rising and jobs are hard to get. When you’re at the grocery store, you see that prices have doubled... how are people supposed to afford food? The problem is definitely getting worse. A lot of places have cut funds for food. It’s hard because people are going everywhere they can to get help. If they can come out here and get a little bit of onion, a little bit of farro, a bottle of juice, it’s something they can hold onto. Every little bit counts... and it helps. What do you rise for? I rise for my community. Food Bank For New York City’s “Together We Rise” series is presented by Grubhub, our Hunger Action Month partner whose immense generosity is enabling us to continue the work of feeding and nourishing ALL New Yorkers in these challenging times.

At Food Bank, we are proud to be a grant recipient of the Grubhub Community Fund, which provides resources to organizations like ours to empower and support our neighbors. This Hunger Action Month, Grubhub has taken its partnership a step further by sponsoring our “Together We Rise” series, which features stories of resilience and strength from the folks who power our mission every day. Though a recent transplant to New York City, Elizabeth Schiffmann has already become a regular volunteer at Food Bank’s Community Kitchen & Food Pantry in West Harlem. As she continues to explore her new city, she says that serving at Food Bank has helped her to feel more connected to her neighbors across the five boroughs. Elizabeth rescuing produce at a recent “Farm 2 Food Bank” volunteer shift at the Union Square Farmers’ Market. Where in NYC do you live? What’s something special about your neighborhood that people may not know? I live on the Upper East side and feel like I’m still getting to know my neighborhood as I moved here last October. But something I love is that there is a neighborhood group that works on preserving the trees along the streets and sidewalks. They prune and keep the wrought iron barriers in good shape. What does community mean to you? For me, community means getting to know the needs of your neighbors and helping if you can. This can include beautifying one’s surroundings or volunteering at a place like Food Bank. What keeps you motivated when times get tough? Having moved here from the metro Boston area, I do not know many people, so this has been tough at times. Getting involved and helping out around a new community was the easiest way to better understand my new home. This also helps when I have some “poor me” moments! As inflation drives food, rent, and gas prices higher and higher across the city, how are you staying hopeful? I stay hopeful because I see how people truly care for one another and help each other, though often there are obstacles that they personally face. There is nothing we can’t do when we come together. What keeps you connected to Food Bank’s mission to feed and nourish ALL New Yorkers? I would not like to go hungry myself. The staff and other volunteers at Food Bank’s Community Kitchen & Food Pantry have been so positive, friendly, professional, and extremely hard-working. What do you rise for? I rise for hunger and justice. Food Bank For New York City’s “Together We Rise” series is presented by Grubhub, our Hunger Action Month partner whose immense generosity is enabling us to continue the work of feeding and nourishing ALL New Yorkers in these challenging times.