Thanksgiving 2005

Once again, we were able to provide delicious Thanksgiving packages to 650 Pantry families thanks to the generosity and incredible energy of our friends and volunteers.  55 volunteer groups and individuals donated over 12,000 pounds of food, and 200 volunteers pitched in to pack and distribute these special packages containing turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, yams, mashed potatoes, soup, dessert, fresh vegetables and fruit.

Quite simply, we couldn't do this without you and we thank you for making our Pantry families' Thanksgiving celebration a special one.

Thanksgiving volunteers getting ready to pack groceries

See our 2005 Annual Report Honoring our Volunteers!

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YCP's Annual Theatre Benefit

Thursday, February 2, 2006

  Tickets for this show have been sold out.

The Odd Couple with Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick is Broadway’s hottest ticket!

Sponsor tickets are $600 each and includes dinner and preferential seating at the theatre.

Benefactor tickets are $400 each and includes dinner and theatre.

Supporter tickets are $300 each and is for theatre only.

Pre-theatre dinner will be at Cafe Nicole, Novotel New York.

 Please call 410-2264, ext. 114 or email sjames@ycp.org or lfavre@ycp.org for more information or to order your tickets today.

Spring Benefit: A Taste of Spring

Thursday, May 5, 2005

Thanks to Honorary Benefit Chair Wendy Gartner Salles, Co-chairs Hilary Brown and Marilyn Lubell, and Junior Committee Co-chairs Krystyna Masny and Brooke Simpson, our major fundraising event was a wonderful evening and great success.

It was held again this year at Mercedes-Benz Manhattan’s spectacular Park Avenue showrooms. Guests sipped champagne while placing their bids on a record number of silent auction items, including a chauffeured outing in the super-luxurious Maybach.  They purchased raffle tickets for a tantalizing array of prizes, and there was a special raffle for a 32” wide, flat screen TV.

The evening’s festivities included presentation of the annual Helene Abraham Volunteer Community Service award to the Sugar Hill Mennonite Mission with Lawrence Penner accepting.  Their dedicated and enthusiastic volunteers have been working with YCP for the past 15 years.  The Pantry greatly appreciates the support of the Mennonites.

Many thanks to all those individuals and companies that helped underwrite the evening’s expenses, and donated gifts and prizes; and to all the volunteers who addressed invitations, solicited donations, stuffed goody bags and supported the benefit in many other ways.  A special note of thanks to all the YCP staff who gave up their evening to volunteer for this event.

Easter 2005

This year, YCP was able to give an Easter basket to every single child under the age of 12 participating in our Pantry program.  We couldn't have done it without the help of several church congregations in our community, who donated 900 beautifully wrapped Easter baskets stuffed with toys, books, and Easter treats.  Alongside our cadre of dedicated weekly volunteers, groups from Food Bank, Youth Service Opportunities Project (YSOP) and New York Cares spent a day at YCP distributing the baskets in addition to packing and distributing nearly 800 holiday pantry packages.

Easter basket mania at YCP!!!

Christmas 2004

Thanks to the dedication and generosity of volunteers and donors, YCP was not only able to provide over 650 families special holiday meal packages, but distributed over 1000 toys to the children served by our Pantry program!  The excitement started off the weekend before Christmas when over 100 volunteers sorted donated food and prepared meal packages, then sorted toys including dolls, books, clothing and gift certificates into the appropriate age categories.  Then, on the Thursday before Christmas, YCP swung into action with additional volunteers to distribute toys along with special holiday packages to happy Pantry families.

Thanks to the Food Bank of NYC, Peter Boyle from "Everybody Loves Raymond" shared the Christmas spirit with YCP Pantry families. 

Thanksgiving 2004

Thanks to Fresh Direct's donation of 600 turkeys, YCP was able to provide a record number of families (668!) special Thanksgiving food packages with all the trimmings.  Special guest Edie Falco (from the Sopranos) was on hand to distribute the turkeys. 

Pantry in the News

By JOYCE PURNICK

Published: January 24, 2005

IN his inaugural address on Thursday, President Bush repeatedly invoked freedom and liberty, telling his fellow citizens that spreading liberty around the world was "the calling of our time."

The more direct needs of people back home got five presidential sentences. Mr. Bush never spoke about, say, the freedom of knowing that the rent will be paid, that the refrigerator will be full, that car payments or a round-trip subway ride won't be a burden. Health insurance got merely a glancing reference.

Maybe the president plans to discuss those matters in another speech. If so, he could do some research in New York, where, even as the city rebounds and makes inroads into homelessness, some people are left behind.

The latest city statistics show, for instance, that the number of people visiting food pantries and kitchens that get city support (only part of the emergency food network) grew between November 2003 and November 2004 - to 1,034,415 from 885,400.

The issue is complicated. The number of New Yorkers who use food programs began to increase with the economic downturn just before Sept. 11, 2001, and has continued to grow. The statistics reflect unemployment rates, the high cost of living, the large numbers of immigrants - many of them unskilled and undocumented - and the growing sophistication of the system itself, program directors say.

They also say that in most cases people who go to food pantries for groceries (food kitchens serve meals) are not hungry. They are needy. "It's sustenance," said Jeffrey Ambers, executive director of the Yorkville Common Pantry on East 109th Street. "It's to supplement their income."

Food programs, largely government-financed, have grown and become institutionalized around the country - an unofficial but crucial part of the social welfare system, relied on not just by the chronic poor, but by the working poor. Estimates show that slightly more than a quarter of the people who visit the city's food pantries have jobs.

A recent study by the West Side Campaign Against Hunger shows that about the same percentage are on Social Security or Supplemental Security Income, while 18 percent are on welfare. "The term now used is 'food insecurity,' " said Doreen Wohl, the executive director of the program, on West 86th Street. "People who can't pay all of their household bills will come to food programs because they can get free food that helps free up money for those other necessities."

Some of those New Yorkers were lined up outside the Yorkville Common Pantry on Saturday as the snow began to fall.

"It's hard to make ends meet," explained Elaine Sparkman, a hospital claims worker. She supports her mother and disabled sister, and finds that her salary of about $26,000 a year doesn't go far enough. "The expenses - transit went up, food. This comes in handy," she said of the groceries.

People get one to four bags of groceries at Yorkville, depending on family size. On Saturday, each bag contained cans of juice, vegetables, fruit, beans and soup, a small box of cereal, a pound of pasta, a quart of dried milk, a bag of potatoes or other fresh produce, a chicken, a loaf of bread.

Of course, some treat food programs as an entitlement, a crutch. On Saturday, a young man of 22, who would not give his name, said he needed the food because he had not found work. And if the pantry did not exist? "I guess I'd look harder for a job."

OTHERS are among the chronically poor, like the man of 46 who looked 66, wore patched clothes and had liquor on his breath. He smiled and thanked everyone profusely and shuffled away. But many more are like Ms. Sparkman, coping with rising costs in New York, even of basic food.

Dorothy Gray, a home hospice attendant, said that without the pantry, "I'd have to get public assistance." She turned to a volunteer. "No potatoes?" she asked. No, the potatoes were all gone.

Sam Williams, 20, said he couldn't get regular work as a roofer, so the groceries were a necessity: "Nothing is enough." Monica, who would not give her last name, said she was laid off from a clerical job last year, and though she is doing temp work, she still struggles to pay her rent and medical insurance.

"Companies don't want to hire me because of health insurance," explained Monica, who is 59 and, it would seem, not enjoying all the freedoms the president wants to bring to the world.

Sounds like a good subject for a political speech.

The Washington Post dated March 4, 2004

El Diario dated June 30, 2003

The New York Times dated May 29,2003

See our 2004 Annual Report

"Celebrating Volunteers"

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