New Grocery-Like Pantry To Help With Sunset Park Food Insecurity

SUNSET PARK, BROOKLYN — A new food pantry in Sunset Park hopes to help the one out of three families in the area that ran out of food last year not only keep their refrigerators full, but make sure they're stocked with healthy options.

New York University Langone Health opened "The Table," a grocery-store like food pantry, on Sixth Avenue last weekend. The pantry is part of a new program that aims to improve the community's health by making sure all residents have access to nutritious food.

“We hope that by providing the community with resources and tools to prepare healthful meals, we can help address food issues before health outcomes deteriorate,” said Kathy Hopkins, vice president of Community-Based Programs at Langone.

Langone discovered that one-third of families were experiencing food insecurity through a new screening survey that they put in place at six of their health center locations, mostly those where pregnant women and families with children under 5 years old are seen.

The researchers specifically investigated pregnant women and young families because children born into poverty can experience increased infant mortality, low birth weight, health and developmental problems, increased frequency and severity of chronic diseases, poorer nutrition and growth and increased obesity, the organization said. Each of these health issues, they added, can harm a child's trajectory in life in a way that perpetuates intergenerational poverty.

"The Table" will let residents visiting the Family Health Center select fresh produce and other food items and learn how to prepare the food that is available that day to help eliminate food insecurity while also improving self-sufficiency. It is funded by several organizations and the city's Human Resources Administration and Department of Health's Hunger Prevention and Nutrition Assistance Program.

The pantry, which will serve 300 people each month, also received an $800,000 grant from Single Stop USA. The grant supports the screening of patients for eligibility in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, the federal food stamp program.

More than 460 people have been screened, 210 federal SNAP applications have been submitted, and more than 100 families have already been approved so far, the organization said.