The demand for food from pantries and other programs is up significantly this year, said Molly Nicol, interim director at the Food Bank of the Hudson Valley.
“We’ve seen the need increase since the beginning of COVID-19 by 53% in the distribution of food,” she said. In a typical year, the regional food bank distributes about 16 million pounds of food throughout Orange, Ulster, Sullivan, Dutchess, Rockland and Putnam counties. Through the end of October, Nicol said, the organization has already distributed about 19.2 million pounds through pantries, soup kitchens, schools and other programs.
“In any kind of disaster, whether it’s 9/11 or a flood or a hurricane, we are the disaster response vehicle to get food to people,” Nicol said. But those occurrences last a few days. The novel coronavirus has presented not just a health emergency, but a protracted economic emergency.