New York, NY – Led by New York State Assemblymembers Linda B. Rosenthal (D/WF-Manhattan) and Jessica González-Rojas, a contingent of more than 30 state lawmakers sent a letter to Governor Cuomo urging him to include food pantry, food bank and grab-and-go site staff and volunteers on the list of essential workers prioritized to receive the COVID-19 vaccine in Phase 1B. 

The vast majority of essential frontline workers became eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine in Phase 1B, which opened up in early January 2021 and included grocery store and restaurant workers, home care workers, teachers, public safety and transit workers, among others.Despite being designated as essential since the beginning of the pandemic, staff and volunteers who work at New York’s food banks, pantries and grab-and-go sites providing food to low-income New Yorkers have been conspicuously left off the list. The full list may be accessed here.

“With exploding unemployment and homelessness in New York, the number of food insecure New Yorkers has skyrocketed. Without the dedication and commitment of staff and volunteers at New York’s food banks, pantries and grab-and-go sites, countless New York families would go hungry. Food pantry staff have been risking their health and that of their families to make sure that hungry New Yorkers can feed their families, and it is vital that we immediately prioritize them for the vaccine,” said Assemblymember Linda B. Rosenthal, Chair of the Committee on Social Services. 

“At the beginning of the pandemic, community members in Jackson Heights mobilized quickly to build a food pantry, the Love Wins Food Pantry. It is still operating today, and I do my best to go regularly to volunteer as I did when it first began to operate” said Assemblymember Jessica González-Rojas. “The volunteers at Love Wins, like the staff and volunteers at food pantries, food banks, and grab-and-go sites all around the state are working hard to address food insecurity in some of our most vulnerable communities. They put themselves at risk each time they serve knowing that they do so to feed our neighbors. We must include these individuals in Phase 1B of the vaccine distribution plan.”

“When the coronavirus hit, NCJW NY’s staff and volunteers found a way to keep our Hunger Program going, without missing a day. We knew New Yorkers needed us more than ever. When restaurants were closed, we were open. When families could not afford to shop in the grocery store, we were there for them. We’ve been providing a lifeline of nutrition for New York City’s hardest hit families, serving close to 350 families every week at our Monday Food Pantry. With both grocery store workers and restaurant workers now eligible for vaccination, we're baffled as to why emergency food program workers are still waiting. We know that elected leaders in New York truly want to direct resources at low-income communities of color who have been hardest hit. This oversight seems to fly in the face of that goal,” said Andrea Salwen Kopel, Executive Director, National Council of Jewish Women New York.

“We request a meeting with the relevant leadership at the Governor’s office who have the ability to make vaccine allocation decisions as the present state of affairs is wholly unacceptable and we are seeing no movement in supporting or respecting the essential work of the Emergency Feeding network across NY State.This is not a supply issue, it’s an issue of respect, support, and safety,” said Chef Greg Silverman, chief executive officer of the West Side Campaign Against Hunger in New York City, a pantry that serves 50,000 people a year.

“Food Pantries have been essential to NYC during this pandemic. Food Pantry volunteers have been feeding hundreds of our neighbors’ week by week and deserve to have access to the COVID-19 vaccine. As a city hardest hit by the pandemic, it is our duty to show these volunteers that we value and respect their work as an essential part of our recovery” said Daniel Puerto, co-founder of the Love Wins Food Pantry.

The letter, which may be accessed here, was sent on February 23, 2021.