Phyllis Earle depends upon meals from a nonprofit organization. If not for the group Encore Community Services, she would not have reliable access to enough food.

“I enjoy my food. Sometimes I go home and eat it or I eat it right away,” Earle said. “It’s all around a good thing.” It’s all around a good thing.”

She also packs meals part time to help other seniors who depend on the group’s grab-and-go service.

“Thank god for programs like this,” Earle added.

“As a city, we must ensure that we have plans and systems in place to support the ever aging community,” Councilmember Crystal Hudson said.

A City Council subcommittee questioned the Mayor’s Commissioner of the Department for the Aging on Wednesday.

What You Need To Know

  • The mayor's office reports around 1.4 million New Yorkers face food insecurity

  • A hearing addressed older New Yorkers needs for meals

  • A City Council subcommittee questioned the mayor's commissioner of the Department for the Aging on Wednesday

  • The commissioner told councilmembers for the first time there’s a waiting list for home-delivered meals, as we enter a post-pandemic world, but it’s short — fewer than 100 people

During the pandemic the city's more than 300 older adults centers closed, transitioning to providing direct meal delivery and grab-and-go meals in place of congregate settings. This service was replaced by GetFoodNYC, which delivered meals to New Yorkers in need, including older adults. In the pandemic, certain demographics fared worse than others.

“From available data we know that persistently higher rates of food insecurity and hunger disparities and diet-related diseases and low wages and unsafe working conditions for food workers disproportionately harmed black and Latinx communities,” Hudson said.

The mayor’s office reports around 1.4 million New Yorkers face food insecurity. The older adult centers reopened in June of last year — congregate meals returned, but the Department for the Aging testified the need for grab and go meals and deliveries continues.

“There is a 36% increase in demand from the pandemic. ‘Are we serving or delivering more meals than pre-pandemic?,’” Hudson said.

“No, no, we are serving more home-delivered meals but not in older adult clubs but that is not to say that number reflects what the food insecurity demand might be out there,” Department for the Aging Commissioner, Lorraine Cortes-Vasquez said.

The commissioner told councilmembers for the first time there’s a waiting list for home-delivered meals, as we enter a post-pandemic world, but it’s short — fewer than 100 people.

“It’s very nutritious food. I have no complaints here,” Earle said.

Earle said she is grateful for the food and that she’s able bodied, picking up her own meals and even help the organization that helps her.