When the Cupboard is Bare
(ccstbp)
By Michael Brown
It’s 1 p.m. on a sunny Tuesday afternoon as residents gather in front of the Bronx Jewish Community Council on Holland Avenue. The line extends down the block toward the local pizzeria. The aroma of freshly baked pizza provides a taunting irony for those who wait. They carry baskets in their hands.
Today the center’s pantry will hand out free food from 1 to 4pm. But, with a shortage of food donations and major budget cuts, it is a struggle to feed Bronx residents.
The Jewish Community Council is a community service based organization. Founded in 1974, its mission is to provide social services to residents in the east Bronx area and to any one else who comes to its door. It started out as a privately-funded center that helped people attain food stamps and other government services. Today it is the third biggest pantry in the East Bronx.
With pantries shutting down in the Bronx, even the food donated from the NYC food bank is not enough. “The lines will be all the way down to the end of the block and then will keep filling up,” says Brian Schloss, a staff worker at the center. “The problem is we get a lot more people, but don’t get more food. You’re fighting a losing cause it seems.”
At times the center does run out of food. In some cases, it can provide food vouchers, which allow people to buy groceries in a supermarket. Food vouchers are used for more critical situations according to center director, David Edelstein. “Some times we will get a call from the emergency room at a hospital or social service, even the public assistance office. Someone is out of food. Or, if it’s health needs and they’re a diabetic that’s what the vouchers are for.”
For some residents, the Jewish Community Council is a lifesaver, even when the center doesn’t have food. Bronx resident Michelle Gathly is no stranger to the staff here. “It’s my 100th time here,” she says. “This place is a godsend, along with the other things David Edelstein has done for me and my kids: clothes and school supplies. There are times where there is no food and times that there is. But every little bit helps.”
Trying to visit other pantries can be challenging says Gathly. “They give you a list of pantries, you try to call and most of them don’t exist anymore. You have to take a bus there and the car fare you pay to get there, I mean it’s a catch-22.”
Under budget and understaffed, the pantry remains a vital source of both food and hope for many Bronx residents. In a borough ranked near the top of this country’s poverty ratings, the demand for services is clearly high.
“I’ve been doing this for 35 years, we can still survive,” says Edelstein. “You just can’t get frustrated doing this job.” What they will continue to do says Edelstein, is provide service with a smile. “You don’t want people in the street saying that they didn’t do the right thing. You want people to say, ‘That is a great place over there on Holland Avenue. They help everybody.”