00:00With food insecurity in the United States on the increase and cutbacks in SNAP food assistance,
00:06millions of Americans turned to local food banks to feed their families.
00:10Tammy Wilson is COO of Feeding Westchester,
00:13which distributes 20 million pounds of food a year just north of New York City.
00:18She gave us a behind-the-scenes look at what they do every day
00:21to collect and distribute food to the needy.
00:26How do you get the food? How does it come to you?
00:28Sure. So we have a variety of ways that we get food.
00:31We get food from our federal government, through USDA, through the state,
00:35as well as we get funding from our county government, so Westchester County.
00:40And so what we do is we think of it as a plate of food.
00:43You have a plate of food, and maybe the federal government will give me some rice,
00:46the state and the county will give me vegetables,
00:48but maybe Feeding Westchester has to make that purchase and purchase our protein
00:51so that you can have a well-balanced meal for families.
00:54So initially, food banking was canned goods.
00:57It's we tell you exactly what you want, and you eat it.
01:00But we take a step back, and we listen to our community.
01:04People want to see plantains, bananas, yucca, masa flour.
01:08We really source for our community.
01:11We don't want to just hand you something we think that you'll eat.
01:14But if you provide nutrition education, which we do, you give someone an eye-opener.
01:19They can make it just the way that they would want,
01:21but we want to give people choice because we want to provide dignity.
01:25When you stand online, unfortunately, there is a level of shame that there shouldn't be.
01:31How do you measure the food insecurity in Westchester County?
01:34Well, we partner with United Way of Westchester and Putnam County.
01:38They have a report called The Alice Report.
01:40So like a family of four right now to live in Westchester County,
01:43you need to make roughly $130,000.
01:45I always say that my 24-year-old son will never leave my home because he's not making that money, right?
01:51And so we take the Alice Report, but we also look at, again, the federal poverty line,
01:55which is about $32,000 this year for a family of four.
01:59No one in New York State is making it on $32,000 a year.
02:02And so we take a look at those two things and determine how many people are actually under the poverty line.
02:08We also look at SNAP applications and SNAP assistance.
02:11That is our first indicator because SNAP provides nine times the food that any food bank could provide.
02:16How do you determine the need and where it is and to whom the food should go?
02:21So there are a number of things.
02:22We looked at the USDA hunger report.
02:25We ourselves also did a hunger relief system analysis a few years ago.
02:29And what that does is it allows us to see how many people in which areas have the meal gap, right?
02:34So if you think about a meal gap, you think about if a child goes to school all day,
02:38who's feeding them between the time of 3 and 6 p.m. before parents get home and dinner time, right?
02:44So that's a meal gap.
02:45If a mother and a child have two meals, does she get that meal, right?
02:49And so we look at all of these different factors.
02:51We look at wage increases, the equity around wage.
02:54We look at how much services that they need.
02:57Is it rent assistance?
02:58And so we try to look at the whole person to see where the gaps are.
03:02And normally food is at the end of it.
03:05And so we just look at the different pieces of a person and family.
03:08Talk about last November when we had the government shutdown.
03:10Yes.
03:11And there was a shutdown of SNAP funds.
03:12You had a particular vantage point on what that stress on SNAP meant for food insecurity and for the people you supply.
03:19What did you find?
03:20The first thing is that people were mentally stressed, concerned, and they're already stressed.
03:27They're stressed for a number of things.
03:28They're stressed because during the government shutdown, it was compounded by a multitude of different issues.
03:33People were already concerned about losing their SNAP benefits, $186 billion over 10 years.
03:40There's also what we call AVODs, which is able-bodied adults without dependents.
03:44Their recertification is changing, but that was accelerated in November.
03:48Then you had the government shutdown.
03:50Then you had federal workers not being paid as well.
03:53And then, how could I forget, you also have ICE.
03:56So, you have fear, you have cuts, and then that did impact our lines.
04:01As you listed those points of stress, only one of them goes away when the government reopens.
04:07Correct.
04:08The $186 billion still is being cut under the one big, beautiful bill.
04:12You still have the AVOD, as you call it, the able-bodied workers without dependents.
04:16You still have ICE with us.
04:17So, what do you anticipate, you know, going into 26, that's going to mean for the family that depends on SNAP?
04:25Those are planned disruptions.
04:26It's the unplanned disruptions that are really concerning.
04:29And so, as multiple food banks in New York State and across the country, including Feeding Westchester,
04:34we're looking at what is the impact on the whole person because we are one part of the food ecosystem.
04:40We're one part of a person's story.
04:43There are many other things.
04:44We're working with other not-for-profits in shelters, like who provide shelter and home assistance, legal services.
04:50The nonprofit community is really trying to figure out what is the next six months, year, two to five years,
04:56what is that going to look like for our people?
04:58So, we are looking at strategies.
05:00We're looking at long-term stability for our own organization.
05:04For years, we thought we were going to be out of business.
05:06We were going to be happy about that.
05:07We don't think that anymore at all.
05:14So, what is all of this?
05:17Right.
05:17So, where we are, we're in our sorting room.
05:19This is where sorting happens.
05:21We get all donations that come in.
05:23They could be from big-box stores like Costco's, BJ's, Wegmans, Target's.
05:27They come in here.
05:28And what we want to do is break them down into smaller items, like smaller things where you can carry for a person,
05:33and that our partners can be able to easily distribute.
05:36We want to take the load off of them because they're doing all the heavy lifting with our neighbors.
05:39So, not knowing anything, but it looks a little chaotic.
05:42So, there must be a system.
05:43What's the basic system?
05:44It is chaotic, but there's definitely a method to our madness.
05:47So, on this half of the room, we're packing retail recovery, specifically what Tammy was speaking about.
05:52All the donations we get from our big-box stores, they sort them here, check them, and categorize them.
05:57On the other half of the room, we're also doing retail, but that's specifically frozen retail,
06:02things that came out the freezer, and in the same manner, checking, sorting, and categorizing.
06:07But when you're talking about produce, you're talking about frozen things, there's a limited period of time.
06:11I mean, how do you make sure you get it to people fast enough before it has gone bad?
06:15We work with our partners so efficiently, so the moment our drivers go to that store and we bring it back,
06:20or the moment that we go to Hunts Point and get our donations and come back, we already know where it's going.
06:24So, it's either going to fuel our mobile market, so it comes in, and it goes out, if not the same day, the very next day.
06:31Because we know the shelf life.
06:32We want to make sure it's in and out.
06:33We don't want to hold anything.
06:34We want to push out as much food as possible to the people.
06:37This is the beautiful part about retail recovery.
06:39You get hygienic items.
06:41Nail polish.
06:42Non-food.
06:43By the way, these are things that SNAP would not cover.
06:45Absolutely.
06:46So, SNAP does not cover any feminine hygiene products, baby supplies, any of these supplies, no.
06:51And when you think about it, a person goes into a store, they don't only just buy food.
06:55Right.
06:55They buy things like blade candlesticks, because we all want a nice-smelling home, right?
07:00We want lotions.
07:00We want things for our babies, and we want people to really get everything that they need.
07:05So, if you're at a pantry, if you're at a distribution, we want to make sure that you have not just all food groups.
07:10We want to make sure that you have everything that you need, toilet paper, paper towels, vitamins, all the things.
07:15You see it from the receiving end on SNAP.
07:21If you had the power to change the program beyond just spending a lot more money, just spend the same amount of money, how could it be done better?
07:30I think food banking, as you said, we've been talking about increase in funding for SNAP for years prior to HR1.
07:37I think, for me, I think we need to look at this system in general.
07:40We need to look and start with children, start with nourishing children, understanding education, nutrition education, not just food.
07:48If you look at the whole person, we're looking at financial investments.
07:52How do people come out of poverty?
07:54Because it's about poverty, not food, just food insecurity.
07:57And if you start with a child and you teach them about food, you teach them about finances, you open doors and opportunities for them.
08:06I was the first person to graduate from college.
08:08No one could tell me in my family how to do the application, what was FAFSA.
08:12I think we just have to provide resources, eye-opening things, and not just think you need a handout.
08:18Because that's not what it is.
08:20If COVID taught us nothing, it taught us that people in need look like anyone.
08:25They can have a Mercedes.
08:27They can have a broke-down pickup truck.
08:30They can walk.
08:31We should be able to support our people.
08:33But we need to start from when they are children and grow so that they can grow into adults that they feel good about and have dignity.
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