Frum NY Leaders Citing the Failure of the city to Provide Kosher Meals with Dignity & Quantity

By
5TC Team
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Jewish New Yorkers excited for the first day of city-sponsored kosher meals were in for a rude welcome Thursday, as meals arrived late and ran out quickly, according to local elected officials and community leaders.

The City Education Department had been distributing three free “grab and go” meals per day at select public schools to New Yorkers of all ages during the coronavirus pandemic, with vegetarian and halal options available, but not kosher. After weeks of advocacy by Jewish organizations and elected officials, the city this week added ten kosher-only locations in Brooklyn and Queens. But according to Hamodia when the programs began it was a disaster from the start.

At the one Boro Park location, the food did not arrive on time; later, when it did arrive, the more than 100 people on line were told that the Education Department did not have sufficient staff to distribute it, according to a staffer at the office of Assemblyman Simcha Eichenstein who fielded calls from a number of frustrated constituents.

City Councilman Kalman Yeger said that many people at the Boro Park site were told that since the food hadn’t arrived yet, they should instead go to the one Midwood site. Meanwhile, the food in the Midwood site ran out very quickly as well, at which point a sign was placed on the door instructing people to go instead to Madison High School – a non-kosher location.

“It is clear that there is an enormous need among kosher-observant New Yorkers, a need that the city is not meeting,” said a statement by Eichenstein, Yeger, Councilman Chaim Deutsch and state Sen. Simcha Felder. “The Administration must immediately expand the Grab & Go program to include more sites, and ensure that the sites are well stocked to meet the public’s need.”

READ MORE AT HAMODIA



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