The Friendly Fridge has been active in the Bronx since 2020. GRACE CARDINAL / THE QUADRANGLE
Grace Cardinal, Editor-in-Chief
With the longest shutdown in government history causing a lapse in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits for those around the world and locally in New York City, Manhattan University’s Campus Ministry and Social Action (CMSA) paired with the Friendly Fridge BX to host a holiday food drive for those in need within the community.
SNAP benefits, also referred to as food stamps, lapsed for many on Nov. 1, 32 days into the shutdown. Despite the government reopening on Nov. 12, benefits that lapsed are still being processed in the system and returning to accounts nationwide. In New York, the state Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance filled SNAP benefits despite the shutdown over the weekend, after an order made by Gov. Kathy Hochul. While this allowed some relief for New Yorkers, the need in the city is still great following weeks without the benefits and the holidays just around the corner.
Fr. Edward Beck C.P, co-director of the CMSA, spoke to The Quadrangle about the inspiration behind the drive in light of the lapsed benefits.
“With the budget cuts [for SNAP], we realized that there’s a lot of food scarcity and food challenged people right now, and we know that students want to be able to give back in some way, and not only students, but faculty and staff [too],” Beck said. “Some faculty and staff have brought their families here with food as a way of connecting to it. We thought, with the relationship we have with Friendly Fridge, which has been ongoing, and the great work that they do in feeding the food challenged people in the area, that if we did the food drive at this time, especially before Thanksgiving, there’s even more of a need. They’re getting like, 200 people lining up for food on the food line…So really, the impetus was simply that we realized there’s a dearth right now and a need.”
The Quadrangle also spoke to Sara Allen, co-founder of Friendly Fridge BX, to further discuss how the cut of SNAP benefits has affected the need she’s seen at the community pantry in recent weeks.
“I am 100% relieved that SNAP is reinstated,” Allen said. “What’s very upsetting is that SNAP was, from what I observed, treated as a pawn in a game that our government is playing with each other, on a political level, with very little thought to the people that are affected – the families, the children, the senior citizens, moms and dads, anyone… It’s upsetting that it was even a possibility.”
In 2024, SNAP accounted for approximately $100 billion or 1.5% of the total federal budget. Allen expressed her concern that when it came time for cuts, this program accounting for less than 2% of the national budget was axed. From what she’s seen, Allen isn’t entirely trusting that SNAP will be reinstated immediately for families who are in need.
“I’ll believe it when I see it, because from what I understand, there’s been some washing back-and-forth about who is actually fulfilling this program for the recipients,” Allen said. “It’s infuriating that the state had to come in and make it happen while being threatened by the federal government administration with repercussions…we are beyond thankful that people stepped up on a community level, and I just hope that that keeps happening, because people who receive SNAP are barely making it.”
For the drive on campus, CMSA has placed bins in Kelly Commons, Hayden Hall, in the dorms and even outside of their own door. Reverend Andie Raynor spoke about how having the bins in public places around campus pushes the issue of food insufficiency to the forefront of students’ minds.
“The message for our campus community is that food insufficiency isn’t a problem that is far away from us,” Raynor said. “It’s not in some other remote part of the country, people are suffering right here in our community. So it’s very direct that people know that the goods that they’re bringing and putting in these bins, they could participate with us to bring them down to Friendly Fridge and to see the line of people who are not necessarily the unhoused that you might see in a New York City street, [but] their grandparents and families and people with children who are really suffering, especially with the SNAP benefits being cut.”
Fr. Robert Joerger, the other co-director of the CMSA with Beck, explained that he feels students are invested in the issue of hunger because they know of families in the campus community who are struggling, or may even be experiencing it themselves.
“Everybody knows somebody that’s been touched by this,” Joerger said. “It’s easy to objectify the poor, [to say] “They’re a problem. They’re on the streets.” But when everybody knows somebody that’s hungry, then it becomes a kind of universal thing. And I just think with these SNAP cuts, and how a society can be so comfortable with cruelty…I think in every political [climate], hunger is a common denominator, like sickness. It’s not Republican or Democrat. People see the injustice of this and I think they’re touched by it.”
In addition to SNAP cuts, Allen explained that the holiday season already has families and individuals who may be struggling on tighter budgets than they’re used to.
“During the holiday season, budgets that are already straining get strained even more as parents, grandparents, whoever, want to be able to celebrate these holidays just like the next person, and they’re already struggling to achieve a healthy diet, a healthy grocery list and if you are a person that has children, of course, you want to get your children gifts that they’re excited about, and you should not have to shop in the sale section because your groceries cost too much,” Allen said. “So we definitely see an uptick in people visiting to try to supplement the groceries…if people come here and they pick up a few of these vegetables, tomatoes, blackberries, plantain, broccoli, cucumbers – that is reasonably anywhere from $35–$50 in vegetables that they would pick up at Stop and Shop, Aldis, Trader Joes or wherever, they can take that $50 and put it towards the medical bill, or getting the inspection passed on their car, or get a tank of gas – it helps.”
Allen also shared with The Quadrangle some of the stories she’s heard in recent weeks from families the organization has been able to help.
“We just had a woman come here today. She’s 67 years old. I’m not clear on the exact circumstances, but her benefits got cut,” Allen said. “She has a son that has special needs who lives with her, and she didn’t know what to do, so we loaded her up with a prepared meal, because that’s what we had. We gave her the whole schedule of when to come. Tuesdays are vegetables and fruit, Thursdays are bread and Friday, we get a lot of extra prepared meals from the nearby schools. Riverdale Country, every Friday, brings us at least 20 to 25 big trays of prepared meals from the week past from the cafeteria…You get a lot of mothers who their budget just doesn’t make it, and they can’t get benefits, because if they make just a certain amount too much, they have to not work.”
As for why students should consider donating to the cause, Raynor says it can make them feel like they’re actively contributing to community change.
“There are so many problems in the world right now,” Raynor said. “I feel like the generation that’s coming through now is so heavily laden with issues, whether it’s war in Ukraine or in Gaza, or it’s the idea of nuclear weapons being tested again, or it’s the destruction of our environment here. There are so many heavy issues that you start to feel a sense of despair that ‘I can’t do anything about it. What can I do to make one drop in a bucket to make a change?’ And this is one thing that you could do, you can pick up that extra can of beans and put it in the bin…so I think that’s hopefully what the students are feeling in this world, which is so troubled. ‘I can’t do everything, but I can do one thing, and this is one thing that I can do’.”
Looking to the future, the CMSA and Friendly Fridge BX are working together to try to develop a relationship with Gourmet Dining on campus, in addition to the donations they already receive from Zaro’s Bakery. Friendly Fridge also has plans to host a 5k fundraiser for the weekend following the Thanksgiving holiday on Nov. 30, to help support their entirely volunteer-based mission through another year.