Following Congress's decision to cut $5 Billion in funding from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP or, food stamps) last November, New York City food banks have been flooded by families and individuals, according to a new report from the [PDF] Food Bank for New York City.
Following the cuts, 31% of food pantries reported an increase in traffic of more than 25%, while 16% of food pantries saw a rise of more than 50% of people looking for food. These cuts come as nearly one-third of New Yorkers struggle to afford food on a daily basis.
“Hunger should not be the punishment for poverty,” Margarette Purvis, president and chief executive officer of the Food Bank for New York City told CBS. “You shouldn’t have the option of either you are rich or you can’t feed yourself that really is unacceptable.”
Even worse, Congress is close to reaching a deal that would cut $9 billion from the SNAP budget, which the Food Bank estimates would result in "90,000 recipient households in New York City losing, on average, $90-$130 per month."
During November of 2013, more than a quarter of food pantries turned hungry New Yorkers away because they had run out of food.
