By Jessica Easthope
New York City is currently housing and feeding more than 60,000 migrants and still organizations like St. John’s Bread & Life have had to increase their hot meal distribution by 92%. That’s only since july.
They come one by one, but at St. John’s Bread & Life, that adds up.
Sister Marie Sorenson, the organization’s associate executive director, said you can feel the desperation of New York City’s migrant crisis, from both the newly arrived, and the pantries trying to keep up.
“It’s affected St. John’s Bread & Life profoundly because we have quadrupled our number of people we serve in our community,” Sister Sorenson said.
Earlier this year it cost the city $363 per migrant per day. In January the Adams administration projected it would fall to $320, but instead it’s up to $394 dollars. The City Council wants to know why.
Councilman Ari Kagan said this year members were given $22,000 dollars less to support soup kitchens and food pantries.
“I’m an immigrant and a refugee myself, I’m very sympathetic to this situation,” Councilman Kagan said. “I expected more money for these programs but there was less money for these programs. The cost of groceries for New Yorkers is enormous and now we’re cutting food pantries and soup kitchens because of the migrant crisis.”
More than 500 migrant families are now regulars at Bread & Life. Sister Caroline Tweedy, the executive director of the organization said their mission is to feed those in need but if the city is also feeding the newly arrived, why are they still hungry?
“It certainly can be overwhelming,” Sister Tweedy said. “What we found is people are desperate.”
Many migrants say the two meals they get from the city a day are not culturally sensitive. Sister Tweedy said Bread & Life is supplementing for the city, but not getting enough support in return.
“Local government and state government are really looking to nonprofits like Bread and Life to make up that gap,” Sister Tweedy. “You want to be that person who sees the face of God in the other. Isn’t that what we are about as Christians? I also have to think about the future as well and no one knows what the government is going to offer.”
With the holidays fast approaching St. John’s Bread & Life is prepared to give out more than 5,000 Thanksgiving meals, an 85% increase over last year.
Mayor Eric Adams said he’s trying to avoid New York becoming a tent city, but he’s running out of options.
New York City is sheltering more than 65,000 migrants and recently had to close some emergency shelters because of fire safety concerns.
The crisis is set to get worse as U.S. Customs and Border Protection records the most encounters in more than 60 years.
The agency saw more than 2.4 million people in the 2023 fiscal year.
September alone broke a monthly record, with more than 269,000 apprehensions.