New York, NY —

With food supplies running low at more than half of New York City's pantries and soup kitchens. Council Speaker Christine Quinn says the city's poor will be facing some tough choices for the holiday.

QUINN: Will I make my child go through the day hungry? Will my parent have to go through the day hungry? Will I instead not buy the medication that I need or my mother needs? These are unthinkable choices anywhere, but they're offensively unthinkable choices in the richest city in the world.

REPORTER: The current food shortages are the result of a 20 percent increase in demand this year alone. Federal cuts have also reduced the city's emergency food supplies by 12 million pounds over the past three years.

The New York City Coalition Against Hunger estimates that 1.3 million New Yorkers go hungry each day.