Two days before Thanksgiving, a sobering new study about hunger in the city challenges assumptions about many of the New Yorkers who rely on food banks and food pantries. NY1's Michael Herzenberg filed the following report.
Tony Johnson says he's been working full-time in construction for a decade. But earning $15 an hour, the widower can't make ends meet on his own.
"When you got to pay the rent, you got bills to pay, sometimes, it interferes with your eating process," Johnson said.
He comes for the meals and the food pantry at St. John's Bread and Life in Bedford-Stuyvesant three times a week.
Mayor Bill de Blasio packed up meals-to-go to highlight a Coalition Against Hunger study that shows that 48 percent of city residents between 15 and 65 who are food insecure - that is, they cannot afford all the food they needed - actually have jobs.
"There's no doubt of how many people are working hard and unable to make ends meet," de Blasio said.
Last year, the city distributed more than 10 million pounds of food to nearly 500 food pantries and soup kitchens.
"The city does an amazing job funding food pantries like this, maybe $15 million a year, but it's dwarfed when the federal governement isn't doing its job," said Joel Berg of the Coalition Against Hunger.
The study found that the city's federally funded food stamp program, known as SNAP, has lost $500 million since 2012, after Congress and the president let a temporary hike in benefits during the recession lapse. The cut comes out to $15 less per month per person.
Roxanne Gray worries about losing her public assistance. She lives with her daughter to avoid a shelter and gets her food from St. John's. At 54 with no high school degree, she quit her job as a cook to get surgery, knowing her temporary assistance expires next year.
"Not a good feeling," Gray said. "Most times, I feel depressed. I don't know."
The study shows an average of 1.4 million New Yorkers are food insecure.
If you want to help, call 311 to find out how.