New data released by Feeding New York State this week shows a 63% year-over-year increase in food distributed by the 10 association food banks since the pandemic began.
The 10 food banks have combined to distribute nearly 400 million pounds of food between March and December, compared to 244 million for the same time period last year. Feeding New York State includes City Harvest (NYC) Feeding Westchester (Elmsford), FeedMore WNY (Buffalo), Food Bank of NYC, Food Bank of the Southern Tier (Elmira), Food Bank of CNY (Syracuse), Foodlink (Rochester), Island Harvest (Long Island), Long Island Cares (Long Island), and Regional Food Bank of Northeastern NY (Latham).
The largest spikes have happened downstate in areas with higher population density. Both City Harvest in New York City and Feeding Westchester have seen more than a 100% increase. Long Island Cares saw the next-largest increase at 83%.
Foodlink has distributed 42% more food in 2020, with 23 million lounds distributed over a 10-month span, compared to 16.2 million the year prior. See the month-by-month comparison in the chart below.
