Hunger relief organization Community Solidarity distributed vegetarian groceries to thousands of needy families in Hempstead on Sunday.  Credit: Kendall Rodriguez

Volunteers from Community Solidarity — the country's largest all vegetarian hunger relief food program — distributed tens of thousands of pounds of groceries in Hempstead on Sunday as part of its growing effort Islandwide to help people in need. 

Organizers with the nonprofit said they have watched demand skyrocket as more families face issues of hunger and food insecurity due to the economic fallout from COVID-19.

"We have never seen this before," said Jon Stepanian, chief executive at Community Solidarity. "Some of the families are in tears when they come to us."

Community Solidarity has been distributing food weekly in Hempstead, Huntington Station, Wyandanch, Farmingville and Brooklyn. Sunday's distribution took place outside the Hempstead Transit Center.

While the nonprofit has been providing food relief for years, organizers are now reaching thousands more families. The organization used to serve 3,000 families directly and is now serving 10,000, Stepanian said. In addition to people receiving a box of a week's worth of food on foot, Community Solidarity now offers a drive-up service and some lines of cars have stretched for more than a mile long.

Organizers noted that more than 1.6 million state residents have filed for unemployment in the past six weeks. News reports have shown food pantry lines stretching for miles following the outbreak of COVID-19.

Sunday the group distributed more than 67,000 pounds of boxed food to more than 1,800 families — typically the group would serve 800 at its Hempstead site. The boxes always contain a mix of fresh produce and whole grains.

"We have a 24/7 emergency hotline and we used to get maybe 5 or 10 calls a day and now we get over 100 calls a day. One day we had close to 200," Stepanian said. The organization also donates to local food pantries.

Longtime volunteer Matthew Wickey joined the distribution effort Sunday. "I do it because it needs to be done," said Wickey of Huntington Station. "If they need help we are going to be here."

Anyone who wants to volunteer or donate can go the group's website at communitysolidarity.org.

Meanwhile, in New York City, Mayor Bill DeBlasio said Sunday the city is making plans to deliver up to one million meals every day to residents struggling to feed themselves.

The mayor said during his coronavirus briefing that the city’s GetFood Delivery Assistance Program will need help expanding deliveries from 3.1 million meals per week to 1 million meals per day. De Blasio said many of those who need assistance with meals are seniors or disabled people who are unable to get deliveries from family and friends. Others are working-class or middle-class New Yorkers who have lost jobs because of the pandemic.

“No New Yorker will go hungry,” de Blasio said.

De Blasio said the city hopes to work with nonprofit organizations to hire 300 people to manage meal distribution sites. He also asked the restaurant industry and other businesses with commercial kitchen capacity to assist with the effort.

De Blasio said the program will focus on providing culturally sensitive and ethnic foods, particularly for members of the East Asian, South Asian and Caribbean communities.

“We are going to make sure people are fed,” de Blasio said. “If we can help people to have some of the food they are familiar with, that is even better.”

De Blasio also said the city needs assistance in delivering meals. He said the city will need help in several specific neighborhoods, including Flushing in Queens and Sunset Park in Brooklyn.

For more information, go to nyc.gov/nonprofits.

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