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New Yorkers Find It Harder To Afford Food During Pandemic

A volunteer loads food into a cart at a mobile pantry in Detroit in April 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic has led to an uptick in the demand at food banks.
Gregory Shamus
/
Getty Images
A volunteer loads food into a cart at a mobile pantry in Detroit in April 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic has led to an uptick in the demand at food banks.

New Yorkers are finding it harder to buy groceries and hunger is becoming and even bigger problem in New York City.

A survey by the organization called No Kid Hungry New York finds close to two thirds of New Yorkers are finding it harder to afford groceries since the coronavirus pandemic started. Director of the organization Rachael Sabella says about 25 percent of children face food insecurity, up from 20 percent prior to the pandemic.

“We heard everything from families saying that they had to hide food in the closet so the children didn’t eat everything so they could stretch it out for the entire week.”

Sabella blames inflation and economic hardship during the pandemic. She’s calling on all levels of government to do more address hunger.