Food Pantry Appeals To Murphy For Help Feeding Hungry During Crisis

Free us from our paperwork, and we can feed people more safely in this crisis.

This was the message from New Haven’s Loaves and Fishes to U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy on Thursday. Murphy stopped at the food pantry on Olive Street to ask New Haven food distributors for the needy how the federal government can help them during the coronavirus pandemic.

“We’ve already seen a drop in our numbers, and we know those people aren’t getting food,” said Loaves and Fishes Executive Director James Cramer.

Cramer explained that older people and people whose immune systems put them at greater risk of becoming hospitalized with COVID-19 have not been picking up their groceries at Loaves and Fishes.

Changes on Olive Street

The pantry has adjusted to the public health crisis by cutting down its operations and moving what remains outside. It has stopped giving away clothing, and the Yale students and Project Access professionals who usually offer medical tests are no longer available.

Instead, the pantry has focused on a grab-and-go system where those who need groceries simply pick them up and leave.

“There’s usually a huge line. We’ve pared that down,” Cramer said.

One remaining obstacle: forms required by the federal government as part of The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP). Cramer said that he has been hearing guidance not to exchange paper and pens to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus, as is necessary to complete the TEFAP paperwork.

Murphy nodded and added that food pantries everywhere are losing volunteers. Paperwork probably slows the smaller team down, he said.

Loaves and Fishes usually operates with the help of 40 to 70 volunteers. They only need 10 to 15 volunteers at a time now.

Even so, Cramer said, he could use more help, particularly to unload the fresh groceries from the state food pantry on Friday mornings. He normally relies on retirees for that task, but the pantry is trying not to rely on anyone over 60. (Interested volunteers can email Cramer at info@loavesandfishesnh.com.)

Eventually, the city food network would like to deliver to high-risk populations in New Haven, according to New Haven Food Systems Policy Director Latha Swamy.

This is already beginning slowly. For example, the Veterans Association plans to deliver some bags of food from Loaves and Fishes to overlapping clients through the VA’s own case workers, Cramer said.

“People who are eager to volunteer need to remember to practice stringent public health safety,” Swamy added.

She said that the city is working on guidelines specifically for people and organizations distributing food.

New Haven is in a strong position because of the collaboration among organizations in the Elm City, Cramer said. The Coordinated Food Assistance Network includes the city, Loaves and Fishes, Witnesses to Hunger, Downtown Evening Soup Kitchen, Jewish Family Service and others.

Big Measures at the Fed Level

Murphy said that he has set a team of staffers to work on hunger, which he sees as a key component of the coronavirus outbreak.

Food justice advocate Kimberly Hart of Witnesses to Hunger thanked Murphy and asked him to continue to amp up the aid he has already secured. She said she has been particularly grateful for his work after attending a conference with Feeding America in early March.

“I met people from all over the U.S. I had no idea how many people don’t have senators and representatives on our side,” Hart said.

The Senate passed a second coronavirus aid package on Wednesday evening that includes paid sick leave for some workers and expands access to food programs like SNAP. Murphy advocated for a speedy vote on the package out of concerns that families were already feeling the delay in aid.

Murphy has already announced his wishlist for what will go in a planned third coronavirus aid package. Some of the suggestions include bulking up food systems, hospitals and homeless shelters for the emergency.

Another item on the wish list takes a page from former Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang. Alongside U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, Michael Bennet and others, Murphy has pitched sending $2,000 checks directly to U.S. adults and children. The checks would continue every quarter and diminish as the economic effects of the public health emergency wind down.

Murphy explained that the direct checks are not in themselves a new concept — that the federal government has done tax refunds and other kinds of emergency assistance before.

“We need to be thinking big. If [the intervention] is not big enough, we’re going to throw money away,” he said.

The idea has some converts, including President Donald Trump.

Murphy said that the White House’s suggestion of two weeks of pay would not be enough for families.

“We decided that around $4,000 to $6,000 per family is the best way to make sure the economy would be revved back up. All this money is going to be borrowed, so you don’t want the cost to be so big you never are going to pay it back,” Murphy said.

Cramer said that these direct payments would help the families that visit the food pantry. He said that the pantry always sees its visitors increase in the winter because of the cost of heating bills, and the loss of a paycheck or decreased hours with the public health emergency can make a huge difference.

“We know the number one reason people come to us is to ease their household budget. That kind of check is going to keep people in their apartments,” he said.

Cramer worried that the payments would not make it to undocumented families, however. He described a client who had just fled from Guatemala without a change of clothes. Those recently released from prison are another vulnerable group without proper supplies, he said.

“I’m worried about those people, because we know they are the most vulnerable and also the most likely not to speak out,” Cramer said.