They feed a need
Food pantry reopens after lengthy absence
SOMETIMES, a little ingenuity can do a lot of good.
The Muslim Women’s Institute for Research and Development demonstrated that on Thursday, when it reopened its Highbridge food pantry, more than a year after having to vacate its former space.
“There’s a very big hunger problem in the Bronx and it’s not something that’s very visible,” said Sultana Ocasio, the executive director of the program, which focuses on emergency hunger relief, health education and the transitional needs of the borough’s newest immigrants. “No one should have to go hungry.”
The charitable food bank, which served a staggering 2,500 people a week, was housed in an annex behind the Highbridge Community Church for four years, but the crumbling structure became unusable due to water damage and disrepair.
Families began showing up at the Muslim Women’s storefront office on Ogden Ave. begging for help — and the pantry’s closing had a ripple effect.
“A lot of our clients had to travel miles to get to other pan- tries,” Ocasio said. “These pantries would get overtaxed and be forced to turn people away because they ran out of food.”
That’s when the organization’s frustrated leaders decided to get creative.
The group turned to a crowd-sourcing website and raised $3,000, just enough to renovate part of its Highbridge office and convert it into a pantry.
After hauling out desks, and even removing a wall, Ocasio and her dedicated staff were able to clear space for the food.
Now operating two days a week, with groceries and fresh foods supplied by larger nonprofits like City Harvest and the Food Bank of New York, the center will service about 200 families a week, Ocasio said. That’s considerably less than it served before, but the group expects the numbers to rise.
The Bronx consistently ranks as the hungriest borough. Nearly half of all kids — and more than one-third of homes — in the borough lack access to enough food, according to a report by the New York City Coalition Against Hunger last December.
“Even when pantries are able to stay open they barely scratch the surface of the needs,” said Joel Berg, the Coalition executive director. “So when one is forced to close, even temporarily, it creates a ripple effect of ever-expanding hunger.”
From 2010 to 2012, some 36% of Bronx households were “food insecure” — up nearly 8% from the 2006-2008 period, according to the group.
“It’s great that they were able to do what they’re doing,” Amar Hunt, 61, said Thursday as he waited on a line that stretched up the block from the pantry’s Ogden Ave. entrance. “The people in the community obviously need it.”
Hunt speculated that recent cuts to the federal SNAP program, coupled with high unemployment in the borough, have forced more people to turn to pantries such as the one in Highbridge.
Berg noted that local relief organizations have struggled to keep pace with the growing demand for their service.
“Charities just don’t have the resources,” he said. “It’s only through really heroic efforts that they are able to keep going.”