Why not make Feb. 15 Community Hunger Empathy Day?

We will be planning events during the coming months to engage our community in awareness, activities, and actions related to food insecurity issues.”

Letter from community organizers

A group of 10 community organizations in greater Riverdale are coming together to start what they would like to call Community Hunger Empathy Day. And they want that day to be celebrated the day after Valentine’s Day.

“This is a particularly immediate concern in this moment due to the withdrawal at the end of February of additional SNAP (supplemental nutrition assistance program) assistance for families that was in place due to Covid,” Rick Feldman, the organizer for Hunger Empathy Day and the coordinator for Art for AID,  told The Riverdale Press.

He presented a letter to the Press that includes the signatures of representatives from Riverdale Senior Services, the food pantry of Saint Stephen’s Methodist Church, the Waldo/Greystone Avenues’ Triangle Project, Vincent’s Table, Art for AID, KRMH Food and Hunger Project, the 4Bronx Project, The Friendly Fridge Bx, Riverdale Y Sunday Market and the Riverdale Neighborhood House.

In that letter he presented to the Press, it cites a report by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities that states:

“The end of the temporary EAs (emergency allotments during Covid) will be a significant change that will increase food hardship for many individuals and families, given the modest amount of basic SNAP benefits and high recent inflation in food prices. Without the EAs, SNAP benefits will average only about $6.10 per person per day in 2023.

That average daily benefit is about $1.35 higher per person per day this year than it would have been as a result of the recent adjustment to the Thrifty Food Plan, which is the basis of SNAP benefits.”

The organizations are looking for people to spend Empathy Day donating or volunteering for the many food-based groups that help those in need. Here is a list of some of those organizations:

• Friendly/Neighborhood Fridges. Our community has three such fridges open 24/7 in campus parking lots and on certain streets. “They work on the simple principle: Nobody needs to go hungry. Take what you need/Give what you can,” the letter states.

You can donate food that has been cooked at home or bought at a restaurant, packaged into portion sizes and labeled; boxed and canned goods; and fresh food such as produce and bread.  Here are the names, locations and contacts for local community fridges:

• The Friendly Fridge Bx is located at 5983 Broadway, just below the steps to the West 242nd Street Subway Station. To donate money, go to FriendlyFridgeFoundation.org. (Note: Due to a recent act of vandalism, the Friendly Fridge is now locked at night but open in the early morning.)

• The Neighborhood Fridge is located on the corner of West 256th Street and Mosholu Avenue and is maintained by Riverdale Neighborhood House. You can drop off food 24/7. Donate via Venmo or Zelle at office@riverdaleonline.org and write “food insecurity” in the note field.

• Vincent’s Table: The latest addition to the network of food resources in our area is a combined effort of the Sisters of Charity and the College of Mount Saint Vincent community outreach programs. They primarily serve students on the campus and residents of North Riverdale and South Yonkers. To donate, email jdouglas@vincentstable.org  (mailto:jdouglas@vincentstaable.org ) or call (347) 698-2322.

There are two centers in our community that feed seniors on all weekdays.

• Riverdale Y Senior Center: The Riverdale Y has distributed over 100,000 meals to seniors since the beginning of the pandemic and continues to do so. They have a daily meal at the senior center and also deliver hot meals daily to homebound seniors. To donate by debit/credit card, go to the website riverdale.org/seniormeals. You can also send a check to The Riverdale YM-YWHA, 5625 Arlington Avenue, Bronx, N.Y., 10471. Write ‘Senior Meals’ in the memo section of the check.

• Riverdale Senior Services: RSS The Center for Ageless Living is committed to chronic disease management by promoting health and nutrition literacy. RSS provides nutritious/healthy meals daily at the Riverdale Older Adult Center, located at 2600 Netherland Ave.

RSS is also in the community working with community partners to provide educational workshops to address chronic disease management, by linking the impact of dietary choices on health.  To donate, go to rssny.org/give/

Other resources in our community are the Farmer to Fridge Network, Kingsbridge Unidos, 4BronxProject/Kingsbridge, Riverdale, Van Cortlandt Development Corp., the Marble Hill Food Pantry, located at St. Stephen’s Methodist Church, the Riverdale Neighborhood House.

“We will be planning events during the coming months to engage our community in awareness, activities and actions related to food insecurity issues,” the letter states.

“There is a famous saying ‘Think Globally, Act Locally.’ This is an important idea, and we will focus on the effects of hunger in our Riverdale, Kingsbridge, Spuyten Duyvil, Marble Hill and Van Cortlandt neighborhoods.

“We hope you will support us in our efforts and get involved.”