{ SPECIAL REPORT }
A HEALTHY RESPONSE TO HUNGER As food insecurity continues to plague many in Bergen, the county’s food providers are putting an increased emphasis on nutrition. By Leslie Garisto Pfaff They appeared in early 2020: lines of cars that seemed endless, and inside them, hungry people waiting for the gift of food. This January, at the Tri-Boro Food Pantry in Park Ridge, even food donors had to wait nearly an hour to drop off bags of groceries until the pantry hired a parking lot attendant to manage the sudden influx of the food insecure. Before the pandemic, Tri-Boro served some 30 families; suddenly it was providing food to more than 100. You couldn’t turn on the news without seeing those lines, those cars, those people in need. Nearly two years into the pandemic, the lines of cars are gone. But the need remains. “Our numbers are still high, and the need is as great as it was,” says Patricia Espy, director of the Center for Food Action, the Englewood-based nonprofit that provides food for residents of Bergen and upper Passaic counties. Espy notes that pre-pandemic they were helping to feed 1,500 households a month; today, they’re feeding 1,000 a week. According to the Bergen County Food Security Task Force, created to address the needs generated by COVID, some 104,000 residents of Bergen County currently suffer food insecurity, defined as a lack of sufficient food or food of sufficient quality. And that number could actually rise. “I don’t think we’re seeing the full ramifications of
BERGENMAG.COM
BERG.1121.special report.indd 60
60
NOVEMBER 2021
10/22/21 1:45 PM
