City's Food Pantries Busier Than Ever

The Food Bank for NYC is pushing hunger awareness with a "Go Orange Campaign"

Across the city, emergency food providers say they're seeing more first time visitors at soup kitchens and food pantries. Nura Amat'ulla of the Muslim Women’s Institute
runs food pantries in the Bronx and says many recent visitors look shell-shocked. She's seen a 30 percent increase in visitors to her food pantries in the past year: 'People are finding themselves for the first time needing support. Needing this type of support to meet their basic needs,' Amat'ulla says.

Anya Duggan, Vice President of Research, Policy & Education at Food Bank for New York City estimated that more than 1.5 million residents rely on emergency food. Duggan says: 'The next time you're on a subway car just look around and imagine two in every five people and how many people do you have in every subway car.'

A full discussion from the Brian Lehrer Show can be heard here.

To find out more about how you can help, visit the Food Bank for New York City.