Latest / The Breakfast Club / INTERVIEW: Leslie Gordon & Zac Hall Talk NYC Food Bank Programs, Feeding Families + More

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INTERVIEW: Leslie Gordon & Zac Hall Talk NYC Food Bank Programs, Feeding Families + More · The Breakfast Club

0:00
Speaker 1: Oh, welcome, Wake you up, Wake you up, wakes up
0:03
Speaker 1: the program, your alarm.
0:04
Speaker 2: The power one oh five point one on iHeartRadio Morning.
0:07
Speaker 3: Everybody is DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, Charlamagne, the gud We
0:11
Speaker 3: are the breakfast Club La La ROAs is here as well.
0:13
Speaker 3: We got some special guests in the building. Yes, indeed
0:16
Speaker 3: we have a Leslie Gordon and Zach Hall. Welcome, Thank
0:19
Speaker 3: you this morning.
0:20
Speaker 4: What's up?
0:20
Speaker 3: How we doing from the Food Bank of New York City?
0:23
Speaker 1: Yes, yes, nobody does better work, you know, in regards
0:27
Speaker 1: to helping people that are food and secured in the
0:29
Speaker 1: Food Bank of New York City.
0:30
Speaker 4: Man.
0:30
Speaker 1: Amen, and you know y'all have your fifty million meals campaign?
0:33
Speaker 1: Tell us what that is?
0:35
Speaker 4: Yeah, So look here in New York City, about twenty
0:38
Speaker 4: percent of our neighbors, almost every street, every borough, struggle
0:42
Speaker 4: with knowing when their next meal is coming from, what
0:44
Speaker 4: it's going to be. You know, if you don't have
0:46
Speaker 4: enough food, it becomes like you're every minute, every moment,
0:50
Speaker 4: where's it going to come from? What's it gonna be?
0:52
Speaker 4: How am I going to feed my family? And so
0:55
Speaker 4: we're on a roll, We're on a mission. We're on
0:57
Speaker 4: a campaign. We want to make sure we raise fifty
1:00
Speaker 4: million meals by the end of this calendar year. Wow,
1:03
Speaker 4: and you've been great, right, thank you for being in
1:05
Speaker 4: it to win it with us. Thank you for helping
1:09
Speaker 4: people to understand and appreciate the nature of not having enough.
1:14
Speaker 4: Looks like that's right.
1:16
Speaker 1: What is the biggest misconception? I want both of you
1:19
Speaker 1: to answer this. What's the biggest misconception people have about
1:22
Speaker 1: who is food and secure and why?
1:25
Speaker 4: Well?
1:25
Speaker 2: I always, you know, I want to tell people that
1:26
Speaker 2: it's not the homeless man on the street, right, Like,
1:28
Speaker 2: these are folks that are you see every day, These
1:30
Speaker 2: folks that are in your building working on jobs all
1:34
Speaker 2: across the city that are just trying to make meeting.
1:36
Speaker 2: The cost of living in New York City is so
1:38
Speaker 2: high that, like Leslie said, it's twenty percent of New
1:41
Speaker 2: York City. That's that's a million and three hundred thousand people.
1:45
Speaker 2: This is a good size American city, right, So these
1:48
Speaker 2: are folks that you know, are trying to get their
1:50
Speaker 2: kids to school, trying to make sure mom and dad
1:54
Speaker 2: in retirement aren't struggling to afford the medications that they need.
1:57
Speaker 2: And we just need you know, a kind of citywide
1:59
Speaker 2: effort to make sure we can feed our neighbors.
2:01
Speaker 1: One one thing I thought, especially during the government shutdown,
2:03
Speaker 1: you know, actual federal workers coming to the food bank,
2:07
Speaker 1: the warm people lowing that benefit, the armed people on it,
2:09
Speaker 1: no any type with welfare. They just couldn't make ends
2:12
Speaker 1: me because they weren't getting any paychecks, so they had
2:14
Speaker 1: to go to the food bank.
2:15
Speaker 4: Yeah. You know here in America they say, most people
2:17
Speaker 4: are about, you know, one paycheck away from finding themselves
2:20
Speaker 4: on standing on a pantry line going to a community
2:23
Speaker 4: kitchen to get a hot meal. We had this incredible couple,
2:27
Speaker 4: you know, come visit us in Queen's They said, you know,
2:31
Speaker 4: we haven't been on a pantry line since the last
2:33
Speaker 4: government shut down twenty and eighteen, twenty nineteen. Our daughter
2:37
Speaker 4: has a scholarship at Cornell. She's coming home. We need
2:41
Speaker 4: to be able to gather around the table for Thanksgiving
2:44
Speaker 4: just like any other family, and so we need the food.
2:47
Speaker 4: The amazing thing about it is is that there's such
2:49
Speaker 4: an incredible spirit of gratitude. Right we're in that season
2:53
Speaker 4: of gratitude. And so this same couple who stood on
2:57
Speaker 4: the line, they took their groceries home. The guy comes
2:59
Speaker 4: back about half an hour later. Our teams out on
3:02
Speaker 4: the ground like they normally are, and thought he forgot something,
3:06
Speaker 4: maybe he needs something else, And he said, no, I'm
3:08
Speaker 4: gonna roll up my sleeves. I'm here to help put
3:11
Speaker 4: me to work. What can I do? Yeah, it's incredible.
3:14
Speaker 5: How did the government shut down impact the operations like
3:19
Speaker 5: to provide the food?
3:21
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean we're made for moments like this at
3:24
Speaker 4: Food Bank for New York City. We've got such an
3:26
Speaker 4: incredible team and we've got, you know, great ambassadors like
3:30
Speaker 4: all of you and Charlemagne here, and so that when
3:34
Speaker 4: the demand rises, we rise right along with it to
3:38
Speaker 4: make sure New Yorkers have what they need. But if
3:41
Speaker 4: I'm being really honest, that's where we need people to
3:44
Speaker 4: stand shoulder to shoulder with us, right, We need them
3:47
Speaker 4: to be in it with us three hundred and sixty
3:51
Speaker 4: five days a year. That's the thing. Hunger doesn't take
3:52
Speaker 4: a holiday, right. We tend to have these conversations around
3:55
Speaker 4: the holidays, Christmas, Thanksgiving. You know, people are hungry all
4:00
Speaker 4: year long, and there's everybody can find themselves on our journey, right,
4:06
Speaker 4: That's what's really special speaking as objectively as I can
4:09
Speaker 4: about what we do at food Bank for New York City, Right, And.
4:11
Speaker 2: You know the shutdown you mentioned that, you know, SNAP
4:14
Speaker 2: benefits were halted for the first time in history. Right,
4:17
Speaker 2: So we had two weeks of folks just not getting
4:20
Speaker 2: into the food they need to get to get by,
4:23
Speaker 2: and that saw a surge and demanded our pantries across
4:27
Speaker 2: the city. And that's something that we don't want to repeat.
4:30
Speaker 2: You know this, Folks shouldn't be punished for politics, and
4:34
Speaker 2: this is about people, not about partisanship. And we make
4:36
Speaker 2: sure that folks in America are being fed and having
4:41
Speaker 2: Most SNAP recipients are tax paying working families, but they're
4:45
Speaker 2: just they weren't getting their benefits. So we want to
4:47
Speaker 2: make sure that doesn't happen again. Fortunately, you know then
4:50
Speaker 2: the government was being funded through September thirtieth the next year.
4:53
Speaker 2: I thank god. But you know, shutdowns really really impact
4:56
Speaker 2: people way more than just work has not shut up
4:59
Speaker 2: to work. It's about a lot lots of systems being impacted.
5:01
Speaker 4: It's about affordability. I mean, let's just be really honest.
5:04
Speaker 6: Right, I just want to ask how frustrating is it
5:08
Speaker 6: for you guys, because you're really on the ground seeing
5:11
Speaker 6: these people in these families. When you see headlines and
5:14
Speaker 6: politicians making it about Republican Democrat, it's a different experience
5:19
Speaker 6: for you as you're meeting these families, right, So, like,
5:21
Speaker 6: what's that experience in talking to those people as they're
5:23
Speaker 6: watching that happen.
5:25
Speaker 4: Yeah, go ahead.
5:26
Speaker 2: I think it's just basic needs, right, Like everybody eats,
5:28
Speaker 2: So we're going to make sure that that's a fundamental
5:32
Speaker 2: kind of a condition of survival in this country and
5:35
Speaker 2: in the city. This isn't about an urban or a
5:38
Speaker 2: suburban or a rural issue. Hunger affects everybody across the country.
5:43
Speaker 2: And the shutdown through that into stark relief. Right, so,
5:47
Speaker 2: all of a sudden, forty two million people in the
5:49
Speaker 2: country didn't have snap benefits. And the politics of it
5:53
Speaker 2: is not a parent for us. We're serving households that
5:56
Speaker 2: have come to us no matter any type of political persuasion,
6:01
Speaker 2: and we're here to serve everybody. And you know, it
6:04
Speaker 2: is frustrating that our elected leaders can't get along and
6:06
Speaker 2: figure this out, and that's something that we always push for. Like,
6:09
Speaker 2: you know, policy means that people are impacted, and how
6:12
Speaker 2: can we come together, you know, party set aside, and
6:17
Speaker 2: just move the country forward.
6:19
Speaker 1: What policy or systemic change would make the single biggest
6:23
Speaker 1: impact right now in regards to keeping hunger from riding.
6:27
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean wages, that's always a big thing. Right.
6:31
Speaker 4: The cost of living all across the country, and especially
6:34
Speaker 4: right here in New York City is far out paced
6:38
Speaker 4: wage increases. You know what we know. Here's check this
6:42
Speaker 4: out for a minute. So if you live in New
6:44
Speaker 4: York City, what we know is that you need to
6:46
Speaker 4: make a minimum of one hundred thousand dollars just to
6:49
Speaker 4: make ends meet. Right, rent eats first. I constantly say, so,
6:53
Speaker 4: after you've paid the light bill, after you've paid for rent, right, transportation,
6:58
Speaker 4: gas in the car, shoes for your kids, all of that,
7:02
Speaker 4: There isn't a whole lot left, right, And so we
7:05
Speaker 4: need to work on wages. Housing, right, We all talk
7:08
Speaker 4: about housing a lot. That's a very serious issue. It's
7:13
Speaker 4: it's really hard to live your best life when you
7:16
Speaker 4: don't really know where you're gonna live, or it's taking
7:20
Speaker 4: up a big chunk of your salary. We've got to
7:22
Speaker 4: we've got to come together and fix it.
7:23
Speaker 3: I was going to ask when it comes to everything
7:25
Speaker 3: that's going on in the world, our donations and contributions
7:28
Speaker 3: down or is it up? How is that looking?
7:32
Speaker 4: Yeah? I mean that's what's so special about New Yorkers, right,
7:36
Speaker 4: is that we've got such a spirit of coming together
7:41
Speaker 4: in the best of times and in the worst of times,
7:45
Speaker 4: including all of you, And so folks have continued to
7:49
Speaker 4: be generous in some of the most impressive ways. It's
7:53
Speaker 4: it's quite frankly humbling. It's one of the best parts
7:57
Speaker 4: of my job is when people step forward and raise
7:59
Speaker 4: the hand and say, how can I help? What can
8:04
Speaker 4: I do? But it's not enough. Right. We're on pace
8:08
Speaker 4: to maybe distribute about one hundred million pounds of good,
8:12
Speaker 4: nutritious food this year, wow, which is crazy here in
8:16
Speaker 4: New York City. And that doesn't even begin to fill
8:18
Speaker 4: in the bucket. So we need to people to be
8:22
Speaker 4: at it with us long term. When we talk about
8:24
Speaker 4: the government shutdown, for example, so people say, oh, the
8:28
Speaker 4: government's back in business again. Well, here's what happened when
8:32
Speaker 4: the shutdown occurred. People started putting groceries and other bills
8:36
Speaker 4: on credit cards. They started borrowing from friends IOUs And
8:41
Speaker 4: what we know is that when that happens, it can
8:44
Speaker 4: take years to get yourself back into a stable place again.
8:49
Speaker 2: And you can't pay your credit card bills with benefits.
8:52
Speaker 2: Your hustlings are trying cover the costs that you incurred.
8:55
Speaker 2: They're trying to feed yourself.
8:56
Speaker 4: You can't buy diapers, right, none of that.
8:59
Speaker 5: I know a lot of people may feel that donating
9:03
Speaker 5: is like it has to be expensive, Like the donation
9:06
Speaker 5: has to be expensive. Is it true that a dollar
9:08
Speaker 5: will one dollar could be five Well, five meals can
9:12
Speaker 5: get you five meals.
9:13
Speaker 4: Look, we try and be as efficient as possible. Food's
9:16
Speaker 4: gotten increasingly expensive. We're really good at what we do.
9:20
Speaker 4: You know. We work with cheers for the New York
9:23
Speaker 4: State farmers, right, we try and support our own New
9:25
Speaker 4: Jersey farmers, Connecticut farmers. So yeah, it does go a
9:29
Speaker 4: long way. I would say between three and five meals
9:31
Speaker 4: for sure.
9:32
Speaker 5: Nice.
9:33
Speaker 2: No donation is too big and no donation is too small. Yeah, really, yeah,
9:37
Speaker 2: we see different ways to invest in our work. You can.
9:42
Speaker 2: Certainly the monetary piece is really critical right now, unless
9:45
Speaker 2: he's describing getting us to the point where we can
9:48
Speaker 2: get fifty million meals. Yeah, but it's also volunteering and advocating.
9:52
Speaker 2: It's another critical piece for us is making sure community
9:55
Speaker 2: voices are heard elected officials, policy gets improved, and then
9:59
Speaker 2: we can get you know, those those components that help
10:02
Speaker 2: folks live better lives, you know, in place.
10:05
Speaker 3: Now, if somebody's out there and then listening out, explain
10:08
Speaker 3: how it works. Like, you know, you're from Queens or
10:11
Speaker 3: you're in the city, what's the process? I can just
10:14
Speaker 3: go up to any food bank and wait online and
10:16
Speaker 3: get food on my outside waiting in line. Like what
10:18
Speaker 3: is the process for people that don't know?
10:21
Speaker 4: Yeah, so no barriers to service, right. We want to
10:24
Speaker 4: make accessing food as a fundamental right as the way
10:28
Speaker 4: that we see it easy for individuals, for older adults,
10:33
Speaker 4: for families. And so we've got this cool food finder
10:37
Speaker 4: that we've spent a lot of time developing. So you
10:40
Speaker 4: can visit us at FOODBANKNYC dot org. Click on you know,
10:45
Speaker 4: find food and it'll bring up a map. You just
10:47
Speaker 4: put in your zip code and it'll give you a
10:49
Speaker 4: sense of either where someplace close to where you work,
10:52
Speaker 4: someplace close to where you live where you can find
10:55
Speaker 4: a pantry. And you know, we want it to be
10:59
Speaker 4: a dignified experience. So years ago, if people who are
11:02
Speaker 4: listening have sort of an older reflection on going to
11:06
Speaker 4: a food pantry or a community kitchen. It used to
11:09
Speaker 4: be hello, and you get a bag. Now things have
11:12
Speaker 4: shifted pretty dramatically. We want it to be like a
11:16
Speaker 4: mock grocery store experience as much as we possibly can
11:18
Speaker 4: within our network. And so you go and we welcome
11:21
Speaker 4: you warmly, right, we want it to be We want
11:25
Speaker 4: you to be seen, We want you to be heard.
11:27
Speaker 4: When you come. We want to talk about what else
11:30
Speaker 4: is going on for you, right, because food and security
11:33
Speaker 4: is a continuum of things, and so you know, if
11:36
Speaker 4: you're a family of four, Let's say you come in
11:40
Speaker 4: and instead of money, we give you a set of points.
11:42
Speaker 4: It's called client choice. You get a set of points
11:45
Speaker 4: and you shop around in a mock supermarket style experience,
11:49
Speaker 4: and you can pick what makes sense for your families
11:51
Speaker 4: and what you want for yourselves. Because I tell people
11:54
Speaker 4: food isn't nutritious if you won't eat it, right, think
11:57
Speaker 4: about that. It's really you're not seeing if somebody hands
12:02
Speaker 4: you a ham or a chicken, but you're rid shariant
12:07
Speaker 4: or your vegan, right, like, what you what are you
12:09
Speaker 4: gonna do? Then? And so we want to make. We
12:12
Speaker 4: want to make the healthy choice, the easy choice, but
12:14
Speaker 4: we all also want you to feel like home.
12:17
Speaker 2: And we're you know, New York City is such a
12:19
Speaker 2: diverse place, as you know, communities and cultures from all over,
12:22
Speaker 2: and we want to make sure that that food is
12:25
Speaker 2: you know, in front of folks, that that it's familiar
12:27
Speaker 2: and means that they can feed their family in the with.
12:30
Speaker 3: It makes sense Now, I don't need a license, I
12:32
Speaker 3: don't have to prove that i'm this. I just go
12:34
Speaker 3: down there and say, hey, this is what I need,
12:36
Speaker 3: and out you can.
12:37
Speaker 2: You can, like as you said, go to go to
12:39
Speaker 2: our website, find a pantry in your area. I would
12:41
Speaker 2: call them to make sure that the hours are you
12:43
Speaker 2: know what they're stating, because those things can change, especially
12:46
Speaker 2: around the holidays and so forth. But yeah, we want
12:48
Speaker 2: to make it as minimally invasive as possible folks to
12:51
Speaker 2: show up and get the nutritius for that they need.
12:52
Speaker 3: Now, what about for immigrants? Immigrants allowed it this absolute no.
12:56
Speaker 4: Barriers to service. Right, We're not here to judge you.
12:59
Speaker 4: We're here to help you live your best life, no
13:01
Speaker 4: matter where you come from, when, no matter when, you
13:04
Speaker 4: reach out for support we're gonna be here for you.
13:06
Speaker 1: You're still cutting line in front of the locals.
13:09
Speaker 4: Yeah, it gets a little ruck it's.
13:13
Speaker 1: A little hectic to see to him. But I know
13:16
Speaker 1: you'all partner with a lot of you know, pantry to
13:17
Speaker 1: community organizations. What do you hear from nim on the
13:20
Speaker 1: ground that isn't making headlines?
13:24
Speaker 4: You know, there was an article, I think it was
13:25
Speaker 4: The New York Times over the weekend in an accompanying
13:28
Speaker 4: video where you see a woman taking a carton of
13:31
Speaker 4: twelve eggs and cutting it in half, just so that
13:35
Speaker 4: you can still spread around the resources. And so the
13:39
Speaker 4: demand is super high. You know what's interesting is I've
13:41
Speaker 4: been in this work nearly twenty years, and we've never
13:45
Speaker 4: seen the amount of people standing online as high as
13:48
Speaker 4: it is today. And so we're having to do more
13:51
Speaker 4: with less. And so that's just another reason why we
13:54
Speaker 4: need everybody's who's listening to be in it with a
14:00
Speaker 4: not only now, but for the long term. But can
14:02
Speaker 4: you imagine that taking a cart and eggs and you
14:04
Speaker 4: got to cut it in a half so that this
14:05
Speaker 4: family can have sex and that family can have sex.
14:08
Speaker 4: It's not what we want to be doing.
14:09
Speaker 2: It's also really time intensive, right, Like thinking about you know,
14:13
Speaker 2: folks are often telling us that the pantries that folks
14:16
Speaker 2: are lining up, you know, five six in the morning
14:19
Speaker 2: for nine o'clock, ten o'clock opening, So thinking like that's
14:22
Speaker 2: a job, right, I think that's your early riser if
14:25
Speaker 2: you're getting to a pantry line that early. And I
14:29
Speaker 2: think folks don't recognize that it's really exhausting and time
14:32
Speaker 2: intensive to navigate poverty and being in a situation where
14:37
Speaker 2: you're food and secure and you got to you know,
14:38
Speaker 2: kind of spend so much energy and time to try
14:41
Speaker 2: to make you know, basic ends meat.
14:43
Speaker 4: What we hear is that people are super stressed, right,
14:46
Speaker 4: super stressed. It feels demoralizing. You know, people are quick
14:53
Speaker 4: to flare, they're angry, they're they're frustrated. You know, they
15:00
Speaker 4: they care about policy, but at the end of the day,
15:02
Speaker 4: it's about feeding themselves in their families.
15:04
Speaker 2: Yeah. I also think that, you know, folks don't realize
15:07
Speaker 2: that how big of a network that we have. There's
15:10
Speaker 2: eight hundred plus food pantries and soup kitchens, but also schools, colleges,
15:14
Speaker 2: healthcare partners, and they really stepped up, like Leslie's saying
15:18
Speaker 2: during the shutdown, folks were, you know, seeing a lot
15:21
Speaker 2: of above normal demand, but you know, folks were just there.
15:25
Speaker 2: I'm gonna We're gonna be here for my communities, their community.
15:27
Speaker 2: Folks helping each other and being that repository of dignified
15:32
Speaker 2: service where you can get you know, trusted, nutritious food
15:36
Speaker 2: in your community is really critical. And that's that's the
15:39
Speaker 2: thing that goes unsung oftentimes. Our pantry network of these
15:43
Speaker 2: folks have been doing this for as long as we have,
15:45
Speaker 2: really forty plus years.
15:46
Speaker 4: You know, And yeah, I mean it's you see everybody
15:49
Speaker 4: on the line. The other day, I was out in
15:53
Speaker 4: the deep part of the South Bronx, which happens to
15:55
Speaker 4: be one of the neediest communities in all of New
15:59
Speaker 4: York City. Right, I'm underserved for years, you know, Morrisania,
16:03
Speaker 4: Mott Haven, Fordham, Hunts Point, all those communities have been
16:08
Speaker 4: deeply underserved for years. And I love to talk to
16:11
Speaker 4: people on the line. One guy comes up and he said, oh,
16:15
Speaker 4: I'm so excited now I'm going to cook this or
16:17
Speaker 4: that he's imagining what he's going to make with everything
16:19
Speaker 4: that we're giving on. I said, oh, you like to cook?
16:21
Speaker 4: Tell me about that. He said, Yeah, I'm a graduate
16:24
Speaker 4: of the Culinary Institute of America. I've cooked for some
16:27
Speaker 4: of the best chefs in America. You know, shower roommate
16:30
Speaker 4: nameless on your show this morning, but he's out there
16:33
Speaker 4: on the line. Yeah, he said. You know, between jobs,
16:36
Speaker 4: I don't always have enough to be able to feed myself,
16:39
Speaker 4: so I do it. You know, it's everybody you see.
16:43
Speaker 4: It's postal workers, it's you know, truck drivers, it's teachers.
16:49
Speaker 4: We see a lot of teachers. It's kind of incredible
16:51
Speaker 4: about who's actually hungry.
16:53
Speaker 5: You guys are providing on a large scale. It is
16:56
Speaker 5: a lot of people that y'all are getting food too.
16:58
Speaker 5: How do you ensure that the families are being fed
17:02
Speaker 5: quality meals?
17:03
Speaker 2: Well, this is one of my favorite parts because we
17:05
Speaker 2: have dieticians on staff, so they work with our procurement
17:09
Speaker 2: team to make sure we're bringing in balanced meals you know,
17:12
Speaker 2: that are culturally relevant, but also you know, whole and
17:15
Speaker 2: mentally processed foods. And I have heard you talk before
17:18
Speaker 2: about nutrition is such an important component of you know,
17:21
Speaker 2: overall health, and we're going to make sure that, you know,
17:24
Speaker 2: we're not reinforcing some of the you know, chronic health
17:29
Speaker 2: conditions that are plagued by so many communities who are
17:31
Speaker 2: also food in secure. It's like the double edged coin
17:34
Speaker 2: where you're food and secure and you have a diabetes
17:38
Speaker 2: or a hypertension or cancer, heart disease.
17:40
Speaker 4: You're sick. Yeah, then you got to take off work
17:44
Speaker 4: to go to the doctor, and you lose your job
17:46
Speaker 4: because you can't get to work because you're sick and
17:48
Speaker 4: you're out at the doctor too much. It ends up
17:50
Speaker 4: being a vicious cycle and a loop that people find
17:53
Speaker 4: themselves in, and it's it's pretty crazy. Nutritious food's really
17:58
Speaker 4: important to us, in addition to getting food that helps
18:00
Speaker 4: you feel seen and that feels like home. You know
18:04
Speaker 4: what's interesting is I think about kids in the Bronx.
18:06
Speaker 4: We saw you out over the summer in the Bronx.
18:10
Speaker 4: Do you know that there are kids in our own
18:13
Speaker 4: city who have never had a blueberry? So, you know
18:18
Speaker 4: what's interesting is is it as a parent, when you
18:21
Speaker 4: have limited resources, you can't afford to make a mistake. Yeah,
18:25
Speaker 4: right right, And so you've got to choose stuff that
18:28
Speaker 4: you know that your kids are going to eat. What
18:32
Speaker 4: if what if they've never had a blueberry before? And
18:35
Speaker 4: you don't know if they're going to eat it not sheeap,
18:36
Speaker 4: it's not cheap. And so that's also part of what
18:39
Speaker 4: we do is help introduce everyone in New York City,
18:43
Speaker 4: especially kids too, new and different foods that you know,
18:47
Speaker 4: mom and dad can't afford to make a mistake on.
18:49
Speaker 4: But we're going to make sure that they know what
18:51
Speaker 4: a blueberry is all about.
18:52
Speaker 2: I mean, and we've we've been making really amazing strides
18:56
Speaker 2: towards that end. You know, it was about forty percent
18:58
Speaker 2: of our our food that goes out the doors produce
19:01
Speaker 2: or lean protein, like really making sure that that's a
19:04
Speaker 2: well rounded, balanced blade of food.
19:07
Speaker 4: Everything that's a you gotta come see right here's my
19:10
Speaker 4: personal invitation this morning because it's I think it's quite
19:13
Speaker 4: fascinating the magical dance that happens behind the scenes and
19:16
Speaker 4: our incredible facility in the Hunts Points section in the
19:19
Speaker 4: South Bronx every day to make sure that there's food
19:22
Speaker 4: on the plate tonight for a New Yorker. It's it's
19:25
Speaker 4: just hats off to our team that picks it up,
19:27
Speaker 4: puts it down, moves it around with such an incredible
19:31
Speaker 4: heartfelt spirit every single day. Yes, produce. I would say,
19:36
Speaker 4: anything you find in a grocery store is what you're
19:39
Speaker 4: going to find in our inventory. And we're serious. So
19:42
Speaker 4: no cakes, pies, cookies, sugary drinks, that's that's not what's
19:47
Speaker 4: in our facility.
19:48
Speaker 2: Yeah.
19:48
Speaker 1: Now, I've had some good cookies at the food bank,
19:50
Speaker 1: that the one in Harlem.
19:51
Speaker 4: Oh so listen, listen, listen, listen. So she's no joke, right,
19:57
Speaker 4: it's the ginger peacht it's those I call them her
20:00
Speaker 4: slam and chocolate chip cookies. Right, everybody deserves a treat.
20:04
Speaker 4: We are definitely not the food police. I feel you
20:07
Speaker 4: on that. So, yes, we've got this amazing Harlem kitchen
20:12
Speaker 4: right off of Frederick Douglas Boulevard. We've been there for
20:15
Speaker 4: a lot of years. Chef Sherry and her team spins
20:18
Speaker 4: out nearly five hundred hot meals a day with love
20:22
Speaker 4: and yeah, those cookies, you're no joke.
20:26
Speaker 1: I feel like that, you know, the food and fan Wycat.
20:27
Speaker 1: That's what I love about y'all, the most passion that
20:29
Speaker 1: y'all actually have. It doesn't feel like, you know, y'all
20:32
Speaker 1: are just doing something for the sake of doing just
20:34
Speaker 1: like everybody there is intentional about the mission. I feel
20:38
Speaker 1: that way.
20:39
Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean people on my team have been doing
20:41
Speaker 2: this for twenty twenty five years and so it's you know,
20:45
Speaker 2: folks that come into the line of business stay at
20:48
Speaker 2: the organization because we love our people and stick around
20:51
Speaker 2: and grow and develop. I've been at the food bank
20:54
Speaker 2: for seventeen years myself, Wow, started as a temp and
20:58
Speaker 2: you know kind of came into this. Unless has been
21:00
Speaker 2: doing this for for decades as well. So we have
21:02
Speaker 2: is passion. I mean, feeding people, it's basic needs.
21:05
Speaker 4: Man.
21:05
Speaker 2: You give somebody a bag, looking looking in their eye
21:08
Speaker 2: and understand that they're going to be better off because
21:10
Speaker 2: of that. That's not enough, right, That's not enough to
21:13
Speaker 2: get people whole. But you know, it's something that is
21:17
Speaker 2: a tribute to the staff that we have a food
21:19
Speaker 2: bank and take it very very seriously.
21:21
Speaker 1: Imagine question, is that, what's one story that reminds you
21:23
Speaker 1: why this mission still matters and keeps you motivated.
21:27
Speaker 2: It's a it's a it's an interesting story because that
21:29
Speaker 2: is not always about food, right. So we have about
21:34
Speaker 2: sixty or so hid A twelve pantries, So some pantries
21:37
Speaker 2: at schools, elementary, middle of high schools, and you know,
21:42
Speaker 2: with generous funding from City Council and other funders, we've
21:44
Speaker 2: been able to do this for you know, going on
21:46
Speaker 2: fifteen years. And part of the distribution that some of
21:52
Speaker 2: our pantries includes all the food we've been talking about,
21:55
Speaker 2: but also like some basic needs like hygiene supplies, logic, detergents, soap, shampoo,
22:00
Speaker 2: those types of things, deodorant. And there's this one. I
22:03
Speaker 2: was visiting one of the schools, PS thirty and in
22:05
Speaker 2: the Bronx and just asking the parent corner, how's it going.
22:09
Speaker 2: She says, oh, you know, like I didn't realize this,
22:11
Speaker 2: but this pantry has had like these other amazing effects.
22:16
Speaker 2: There's this one kid in our class, David. He was shy,
22:19
Speaker 2: never really participating middle schooler, and after his family started
22:25
Speaker 2: going to the pantry, he started, you know, being more
22:27
Speaker 2: and more involved in class, participating, raising his hand. It
22:31
Speaker 2: was because he got deodor and he was concerned that
22:34
Speaker 2: raising his hand in class. You know, we've all been
22:36
Speaker 2: in middle school. Man, that's that's a tough time. You
22:39
Speaker 2: don't be called out as a kid who could. So
22:44
Speaker 2: by going to the class he's getting you know, not
22:47
Speaker 2: only meal has been basic needs, but stuff that prepares
22:50
Speaker 2: him to be a better learner, right, and like that's
22:53
Speaker 2: that's like an incredible story of just like how that
22:58
Speaker 2: that whole whole household view can get kids in a
23:02
Speaker 2: better place to be their better self. And she, you know,
23:04
Speaker 2: she was almost in tears telling me how impactful this
23:07
Speaker 2: was for for them in their school.
23:09
Speaker 1: You know, it's remember to deal, remember raise your hands
23:11
Speaker 1: if you're sure. Yeah, he was sure that that was
23:15
Speaker 1: That was very That was a very effective convers Today
23:19
Speaker 1: is Giving Tuesday.
23:20
Speaker 3: How would you want people to to go about giving?
23:22
Speaker 2: Is it money?
23:23
Speaker 3: Is it financial?
23:24
Speaker 2: Is it work? Is it already above? It's all the above?
23:26
Speaker 2: Money is uh the the benefit for us is the
23:31
Speaker 2: most powerful way that we can we can put investments
23:34
Speaker 2: back into our work in our community. So go to
23:36
Speaker 2: food Bank and yc dot org, click on donate and
23:38
Speaker 2: learn how you can give. No no, no gift us
23:41
Speaker 2: too big, no gift us too small. But really that
23:44
Speaker 2: keeps the engines pur across the street delivering all the
23:47
Speaker 2: food that we do.
23:48
Speaker 4: It's you know, it's each one, reach one right. Everybody
23:51
Speaker 4: can find themselves on our journey to empower all New
23:55
Speaker 4: Yorkers for good and so yeah, it fod Bank NYC
24:01
Speaker 4: dot org. Let's make sure that we're helping to fuel
24:04
Speaker 4: better days ahead for all of our New Yorkers.
24:08
Speaker 3: Absolutely, Leslie, Gordon, Zach Hole, thank you so much for
24:11
Speaker 3: joining us this morning. Appreciate you go out and you
24:13
Speaker 3: give a little bit, give what you can this morning,
24:15
Speaker 3: and thank you so much.
24:16
Speaker 2: Appreciate, thank you.
24:17
Speaker 3: All Right, it's the Breakfast Club. Good morning.
24:19
Speaker 2: Hold up every.
24:21
Speaker 1: Day a week ago, up the Breakfast Club.
24:24
Speaker 2: Finish the y'all done.