Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy
Note: Faces of the asylum seekers have been blurred
Despite assurances from the site supervisors at the former St Brigid school for a cooperative effort in a food and clothing distribution yesterday, things did not go according to plan.
As is the case so often when working with the city's asylum-seeker sites, like here on Seventh Street and Avenue B, snafus started early, with access denied, not allowing us to feed people, and (literally) shutting the doors and windows to the clothing pipeline.
After a week of intense media attention and freezing temperatures, asylum seekers waiting in line to receive placement are now allowed indoors, where they can begin trying to find space in a new shelter after receiving their 30-day notice from previous locations.
Some opt for reticketing elsewhere (anywhere in the world, one-way tickets are available), but only a few. I personally have only witnessed three in the past week. Those who cannot be placed in the system return to Bathgate in the Bronx, where they can sleep on the floor and start the process here again the following morning.
Since people were indoors yesterday, on-site officials would not let them exit and re-enter to receive the donated meals and clothing that they needed.
At one point, a pipeline was established to provide clothing and food through the windows, but security soon shut all the windows and ended this makeshift distribution.
The volunteer-run East Village Loves NYC prepared 450 hot Halal meals, and Pep Kim from Cafe Chrystie donated hot coffee, sweatshirts, socks, and other merch to the effort. Coats, scarves, and gloves were also donated by local residents via a drive with the East Village Community Coalition.
While some people received the much-needed meals, many were prohibited from receiving assistance.
Pastor Will Kroeze from Trinity Lower East Side Lutheran Parish on Ninth Street and Avenue B was able to take some of the extras to provide for other community members in need.
EV Loves NYC co-founder Mammad Mahmoodi explains, "The City requested our meals multiple times. We put so much effort and energy into getting 450 meals, snacks, coffee, tea, etc. together — from 5 a.m.! — to be rejected [from providing] service inside for hungry folks. We even moved to send some meals via windows that they blocked. Meals were outside, hungry folks inside, and the city blocked the connection."
In an image provided by an anonymous source from inside St. Brigid, we were shown the on-site meals delivered by ReThink Foods that indicate mold on the rolls.
I spoke with site management, who told me that the city-run site "receives food adequate for the needs of the migrants."
THIS IS SO INFURIATING!!! How many times does the city plan to refuse to permit assistance to people in need just because it makes them look bad that they can't handle their business?
ReplyDeleteThank you for shinning light on this.
ReplyDeleteThis is definitely not the first time that the City have blocked EVLovesNYC and other organizations from helping. But this needs to be a turning point.
ReplyDeleteThe City constantly complains about lack of resources, and then overpays vendors such as ReThink for these substandard meals. Being down on the ground with this situation, I've seen it time and time again.
What's needed to move forward is a reassessment of not what the City is spending, but the WAY they are spending it. AND a willingness to work with organizations like EVLovesNYC who are providing free and high quality meals to the people who need them most. This has to be the moment where it changes.
Is there any sort of organized night time pizza and / or bedding brigade?
ReplyDeleteThe city seems to be choosing pretty expensive ways to avoid helping people. And to shut down people TRYING to help people. Couldn't that money be used instead for ESL instruction, decent food, job training/counseling?
ReplyDeleteThat is flour, not mold, this is normal on a lot of breads. Please don't spread false info like this.
ReplyDeleteWe wish it was Flour! If you look at bottom right meal in the image they posted, you can see visible mold!
DeleteI live on this street and notice a lot of rubbish on the sidewalk and street. Who is responsible for maintaining the cleanliness of this area? NYC continues to fail its citizens and our incoming immigrants, who I feel badly for in having to navigate this shit show in the cold air. There is too much red tape, inadequate action, and certainly a lack of human and financial resources, which has just been slashed in the budget by our clown of mayor Adams. So disappointing.
ReplyDeleteYeah, that powdery white stuff is flour but the powdery dark stuff is mold, dude.
ReplyDeleteWait, so, Daniel Humm, the big deal vegan chef from Eleven Madison Park is the head of RETHINK, the company that provided the hard-boiled egg, granola bar and moldy roll? It feels like he'd be able to muster something better than prepackaged dreck.
The City prevents the community from helping. Thanks Mayor Adams.
ReplyDeleteHow is any adult supposed to live on a roll, a hardboiled egg, and a protein bar for a meal, anyway?
ReplyDeleteCan't tell if it's mold or not from the bottom pic. Could be flour, could be the beginning of a mold colony. If it starts to turn green then it's mold. Only real way to tell is to give a sniff. Fresh bread smells nice. If it smells funky that's mold.
ReplyDeleteEvidently many of those commenting have not seen what the City feeds public school children on the daily. Mold, chicken nuggets embedded with metal and plastic...look it up! I wish folks would show up with special Halal or vegan lunches for NYC school kids too!
ReplyDeleteWhether it's mold or not, those meals are definitely subpar.
ReplyDeleteNYC cannot continue to take care of the migrants. This is never ending. More and more come in weekly. We don't have the resources. It isn't fair to the people who live here to endure all these budget cuts. These budget cuts can be dangerous to our well-being such as cutting police, fireman, etc. We need a full operating Police Dept and Fire Dept. Also, budget cuts have reduced garbage pickup. Rats are a problem and will become more of a problem.
ReplyDeleteThe NY Times has an article today about all the city-funded meals for asylum seekers that are being trashed each day. These are meals provided by DocGo, and they are apparently bad quality, like the ones shown here. The disgusting part is the city (taxpayers) are spending $11 per meal, 3x a day, for this service which is useless. That's $33 a day per person! The corruption and mismanagement of this situation is outrageous. We're throwing away food, throwing away money, and not benefiting the migrants at all.
ReplyDeleteThank you to EV Loves NYC, Pep Kim, and all the volunteers who are doing all the heavy lifting. Once again, community members are doing what our own city government can't seem to figure out.
Bring back Deblasio. The good old days….
ReplyDelete