Rafael: Good evening and welcome to MetroFocus.

I'm Rafael Pi Roman.

We continue our coverage of the hungry New York State with our coverage on Long Island.

There are over 200,000 people suffering from food insecurity and almost 70,000 of them are children.

Long Island Cares, the food bank originally founded by Harry Chapin, is working hard to change that by providing millions of meals and work programs to Long Islanders in need.

Joining us now to talk about those efforts is the president and CEO of Long Island Cares, Paule Pachter.

Welcome to the program.

Paule: Thank you.

Thank you so much for having me on.

Rafael: In New York City, food insecurity exploded during the pandemic.

And although the situation improved, the numbers of people in the city with food insecurity are still way above how they were pre-pandemic.

Is that the situation in Long Island?

Paule: Yes, it is.

During the first two years of COVID, Long Island Cares provided 25 temporary pop-up distribution food sites in Nassau and Suffolk County.

We saw an additional 320,000 people come for emergency food assistance.

These are people that never visited a food pantry in the past.

As COVID was beginning to expand, there were 230,000 people on Long Island in need.

That quickly jumped to close to 480,000.

Rafael: What are the numbers now?

Paule: We are back to about 240,000 people with most of it being driven by inflation and the high cost of goods.

Rafael: Let's talk about inflation.

For those of us who by our own food, it is staggering.

The simplest milk and eggs is just out of this world.

That's got to be affecting you in some really profound ways.

Paule: It is affecting us in a few ways.

First of all, it has resulted in what we are at as a 48% to 50% increase in the number of people visiting the emergency food network.

That equates to about 42,000 new people.

The other impact it is having all Long Island Cares is that like most food banks in the country, we purchased the majority of the food that we distribute to people in need.

While food drives and corporate donations are critical, it is not the main source of food that comes into a food bank.

It is the purchasing of food.

And we've been seeing anywhere between 30% and 40% increases in our prices, to give you a clear example.

Four years ago, we were paying $.79 a pound for food and now it is $1.29 per pound.

Rafael: Even as this is happening, governor Hogle's budget proposal calls for a cut for funding for food banks across the state.

What is the rationale for that?

Secondly, what will that mean for you and for other food providers?

Paule: It is an excellent question.

It is something that has been on our mind since the governor proposed her 2023 executive budget.

The $22 million she is seeking to reduce in funding is part of the hunger prevention and nutrition assistance program overseen by the New York State Department of Health.

That provides funding for the 10 food banks throughout the state to purchase food, to provide some support in terms of infrastructure for our member agencies.

It was always our understanding in 2022 that when the additional funding was provided, that it was going to stabilize the base funding for the program.

Most of our state legislators were under the impression the $22 million was added to the base to support the food banks moving forward.

Unfortunately, I don't know where the communication got messed up, but now, it looks as if the proposed budget reduces the $22 million.

And at a time where we are seeing such a dramatic increase in the number of people and the cost of goods for us doing business, this is just the wrong time to even consider reducing that kind of funding.

Rafael: It is a proposed budget.

It has not been passed or signed.

What are you and your fellow food providers doing to make sure it does not happen?

Maybe the funds are actually increased.

Paule: What we are doing right now is working very closely with our state legislative delegation on Long Island in a bipartisan manner.

We've already conducted two group meetings with legislators or their to discuss the funding package to share with them the data we are seeing in terms of the increase in need.

Explaining to our legislators what the cost of doing business is as a food bank.

We're till seeing delays in the supply chain.

Certainly, the increase in fuel costs are passed on to us because it costs a great deal to pump diesel fuel into your trucks.

So, we are advocating almost on a daily basis with the governor's staff, with the legislature -- we are very fortunate in New York to have a state association and they are very active right now in advocating for the continuation of the $22 million.

Rafael: Are you optimistic you will be able to change this?

Rafael: -- Paule: I am because one of the things I am very confident and comfortable about is the passion our state delegation has over this issue of food insecurity.

They are getting the phone calls everyday from their constituents.

As you know, most recently, the additional SNAP benefit on a federal level, the food stamp program, sunsetted.

There's hundreds of thousands of people, millions of people that receive that benefit.

Now on top of losing the funding for the program, these individuals are seeing a reduction of $95 a month in order to buy food, so this could really be a perfect storm.

Rafael: This is where you come in.

You step in to provide food for the people with food and securities, whether they have government assistance or not.

Give us a sense of what you do and where you do it at your various locations.

Paule: Long Island Cares and the Harry Chapin food bank supports 318 local organizations.

These are your emergency food pantries, soup kitchens, day care programs.

Monday through Friday, we deliver annually about 12 million pounds of food to support these organizations.

That equates to about 10.5 million meals.

In addition to providing the food, we are also providing our own programs, mobile outreach delivery of food to the homeless, seniors, veterans.

On the weekends, we have a children's food truck that goes out to high need communities and delivers a grab and go breakfast to children in need.

We are working with a lot of organizations in terms of identifying where high needs are and where we need to invest most of our resources.

Rafael: Where are your greatest needs in Long Island?

Paule: RafOur greatest needs rit now are in very diverse communities.

We are talking about the village of Freeport.

Huntington Station, Bethpage, and soon to be open in Valley Stream with our satellite programs where we operate our own food pantries which are open five days a week.

We are seeing a need coming from all different corners of the island, with the most significant increase right now V.A.

with our seniors and also -- being with our seniors and newly arrived immigrants.

Rafael: You kind of touched on this.

Not only do you have your locations, you also have a program called mobile outreach resource enterprise program where you actually go to people.

Talk a little bit about that quickly.

Paule: The mobile outreach resource environment is a mobile pantry on wheels where we are able to dispatch the vehicle to different communities to work alongside our member agencies, to provide even more food for people in need.

So, we find that vehicle going out to different community events, where people are coming together, like on evening programs, veteran support.

Not everyone on Long Island is able to get to the community pantry, especially people who have mobility problems.

We have these mobile units that go out and deliver the food where people are located.

Rafael: New organization was founded by Harry Chapin.

There is a photograph behind you.

I know members of the Chapin family.

Very close to his brother Jim who passed away young too.

I learned from this profound passion of feeding the hungry.

To what degree does that passion still influence?

Paule: hHarry's passion is visible through all aspects.

When Harry found it Long Island Cares, his focus was to help people lift themselves out of the cycle of poverty and become more self-sufficient.

And we have stuck to that goal that he had by creating workforce development programs, job training, career counseling, and a lot of the mobile outreach and social advocacy work we do.

For 43 years, we have stayed close to Harry's initial dream.

Rafael: We have just about one minute left.

I would like you to tell our audience who would like to participate, help with their time or resources, what should they do?

Paule: For people who would like to contribute to Long Island Cares or volunteer their time, it is a very easy process.

You can visit our website at licares.org and register.

You can visit any of our six satellite locations throughout Long Island to do the same thing.

Or you can basically walk in our front door at our corporate office or call us.

Rafael: If they want to contribute money, what do they do?

Paule: They can go on our website and make a donation of their choice.

Rafael: Thank you very much for joining us today and thank you so much for the wonderful work you are doing on Long Island.

Heroic work.

It is a pleasure to talk to you.

Paule: Thank you so much.

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