Rising Cost of the Migrant Crisis: St. John’s Bread & Life Tries to Keep Up With the Need

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.

Israel Agrees to Invasion Delay: Halting Attack to Allow Americans to Protect Troops There

Israel has agreed to delay its ground invasion of Gaza to allow the United States to protect troops across the Middle East.

American officials persuaded Israel to hold off until air defense systems could be placed in the region.

U.S. officials believe their forces will be targeted once Israel launches the ground invasion.

The delay also takes into account hostage negotiations and plans to supply humanitarian support inside Gaza.

Pope Francis has been praying for peace in the Holy Land and is asking all Catholics to do the same.

He has marked Oct. 27 as a Day of Prayer and Fasting for the Middle East.

John Lavenburg, National Correspondent for The Tablet and Crux, joins Currents News to discuss how the Catholic Church is responding.

Catholic News Headlines for Wednesday 10/25/2023

The cost of the migrant crisis in New York City has, once again, gone up.

Mayor Eric Adams says he’s actively looking for outdoor spaces for migrants to live.

As the war between Israel and Hamas intensifies, the World Health Organization is warning of a deepening humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

Bishop Robert Brennan helped Catholic lawyers and judges pray for guidance at the Diocese of Brooklyn’s annual Red Mass in Queens.

She ‘Went Through Hell’: Israeli Hostage Released by Hamas Speaks

Two elderly hostages, now free from the grip of Hamas, recounted the moments they thought might never come.

One of the released hostages said she was kidnapped on a motorbike and taken to Gaza.

Yocheved Lifshitz, 85, is likening her time with the group to going “through hell.”

“She’s really the first person that has been with other people there and I think she’s very aware that she can pass on information,” said Sharone LIfshitz, the daughter of released hostage Yocheved Lifshitz.

“Their medical condition is OK, they’re talking,” said Deputy Director General Nursing and Head Nurse of Ichilov Hospital, Eti Uziel. “At first, we immediately brought them to their family members. It was a very, very emotional meeting.”

Her 83-year-old husband remains a hostage.

Meanwhile in Gaza, people frantically search for survivors in buildings that have been bombed to ruins.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health has reported that more than 700 people have been killed in a bloody 24-hour period, and Gaza is without much-needed fuel, which is being withheld in humanitarian aid deliveries.

Gaza’s hospitals are facing the possibility of mass casualty situations.

“Without electricity, you know, this hospital will be just a mass grave,” said Dr. Ghassan Abu-Sittah, a British-Palestinian doctor working at Shifa Hospital.

As attacks escalate, the Israeli military says it’s now waiting for a green light on a ground invasion.

“Hamas is responsible for civilian casualties but we will do every effort to avoid them and to fight this war as speedily and as rapidly as we can,” said Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. “But it could be a long war.”

“To any state or non-state actor that is considering opening another front in this conflict against Israel, or who may target Israel’s partners, including the United States — don’t,” said U.S. Secretary of State, Antony Blinken. “Don’t throw fuel on the fire.”

Catholic Foundation Milestone: Celebrating The Past, Present And Future Of Diocesan Initiatives

The Catholic Foundation for Brooklyn and Queens, the non profit that supports several diocese initiatives, is celebrating a milestone anniversary.

It’s been 25 years since the foundation was started.

Since then an endowment of nearly $90 million has grown to back education, evangelization efforts, youth ministry, and the social needs of the Diocese of Brooklyn.

At a lunch on Tuesday Oct. 24, the foundation honored those who have been a driving force since the beginning, among them, Monsignor John Bracken, the Diocese of Brooklyn’s Vicar for Patrimony.

The foundation has given out $100 million in grants to date.

Vigil for Beloved Crossing Guard: Community Remembers Queens Woman Who Kept Kids Safe

by Katie Vasquez

Krystyna Naprawa was a mother, a grandmother, a parishioner at St. Helen Church in Howard Beach, and a beloved crossing guard for more than a decade.

At the same spot where she safely shepherded kids to school, her own life was lost, a life that was remembered by those who knew her best.

From police to parents to the people who loved her most, dozens came to light a candle and say goodbye to Naprawa.

Her daughter, son and other family are too grief-stricken to speak, except to say they will miss her, and she’s their angel.

Naprawa spent 13 years at the corner of Woodhaven Boulevard and Atlantic Avenue, helping kids get to school.

It was while she was doing that job, helping five people cross the street, when the NYPD says a driver in a dump truck hit her.

She was pronounced dead at the scene. The driver received a desk appearance ticket for failing to yield to a pedestrian and failure to use due care.

In the wake of her tragic passing, this community and the kids who knew her best are choosing to remember her warm smile and positive attitude.

“She would wave to me ‘hi’ and I always tell her at the end of the day when I usually come home, I would tell her ‘Oh, see you tomorrow,’ every single day,” said MS 210 student, April Aparicio. “I always see her replying to me, brightening up for a smile every single day. She was always positive to me.”

“Every day we would have a conversation, she would ask me how I am, what’s going on in the community, how’s the weather just said, simple interaction was important to me, you know that there was someone in the community that cares,” said former student, Daniel Hill.

Naprawa’s funeral is on Oct. 26 at her home parish of St. Helen’s. Elected officials have vowed to make this intersection safer for the community.

New York City’s Department of Transportation is reporting the number of pedestrian fatalities dropped in 2022 from the year before.

In 2022, the city registered 118 pedestrian deaths, down from 126 in 2021.

That number is an even further drop from the death toll in 2013, the year before the implementation of the city’s “Vision Zero” initiative.

That year there were 184 deaths reported.

Breaking down those deaths by borough, the DOT actually noted Brooklyn and Queens saw the highest percentage of pedestrian fatalities in the city between the years of 2017 and 2021.

Brooklyn registered at 34%, followed by Queens with 28%, Manhattan at 19%, the Bronx at 14%, and Staten Island at 5%.

Catholic News Headlines for Tuesday 10/24/2023

A Queens community gathered for a candlelight vigil last night to remember an NYPD crossing guard killed while on duty.

The number of pedestrian deaths in NYC for 2022 dropped from the year before.

As the war between Israel and Hamas escalates, the terrorist group has released two more hostages.

The Catholic Foundation for Brooklyn and Queens is celebrating its 25th anniversary.

Students Help The Catholic Mission: Brooklyn Kids Raise Money For World Mission Sunday

This Sunday marked World Mission Sunday for Catholics around the globe and the youngest Catholics of the Diocese of Brooklyn have been doing their part to keep the mission alive.

Schools throughout Brooklyn and Queens have been raising money to help children in mission areas.

The school that raised the most in Brooklyn, was St. Bernadette Catholic Academy in Dyker Heights and in Queens, it was St. Sebastian Catholic Academy in Woodside.

The money went to the Missionary Childhood Association, which each year supports more than two-million children.

Celebrating The Body Of Christ: New York State Holds Eucharistic Congress

Thousands of catholics from all over New York state took part in a Eucharistic Congress over the weekend.

The first of its kind event happened at the national shrine of the North American martyrs in Auriesville, which is less than an hour outside of Albany.

Attendees from all eight dioceses in New York participated in worship, adoration, and a miles-long procession with the blessed sacrament.

The Body of Christ, along with the congress is at the center of a national campaign, designed by the U.S. bishops to bring Catholics closer to Jesus’ real presence in the Eucharist.

The Diocese of Brooklyn is planning to hold their own revival in the Spring.

To stay up to date on that event and to read the full report on New York’s Eucharistic Congress, just go to thetablet.org.

18 People Killed After Airstrike Causes Church Collapse

One church in the Holy Land will especially need those prayers.

St. Porphyrios Greek Orthodox Church collapsed after an Israeli airstrike, according to Caritas Jerusalem.

Palestinian officials said 18 were killed at the complex where hundreds were taking shelter, including a Caritas worker, who was killed, along with her husband and their infant daughter.