NEW YORK, Dec. 25 (Xinhua) — The struggles many Americans have been facing during the COVID-19 era have intensified as the arrival of Christmas on Monday led to a surge in shopping, but also placed added pressure on people due to ongoing inflation.
In the western part of Central Park in New York City, several residents gathered at a backdoor of St. Michael’s Episcopal Church on Saturday morning in hopes of receiving free food and other necessities from the church.
Church staff handed out gloves and other items, and visitors were able to choose clothes and shoes. Many left with their bags and shopping carts full as they were encouraged to “share” items among themselves.
In the eastern part of Central Park, people continued to come to New York Common Pantry around noon on Saturday to receive grocery packages, despite the organization not planning to provide them as usual due to the holiday schedule.
A few residents spoke to New York Common Pantry personnel but left empty-handed. Jose Aristeo, who lives near the pantry, visited for the second time on Saturday afternoon and expressed frustration at the rearrangement.
While New York Common Pantry was not providing grocery packages, they continued to distribute food in brown bags on both Saturday and Sunday, with a significant number of people in line.
Jose Gonzalez, a staff member of New York Common Pantry, expected to distribute brown bag meals to about 150 to 200 people each day. He highlighted the significant rise in visitors over the past year or two, citing large families in need and a new shelter opened nearby.
New York Common Pantry is projected to serve over 11 million meals in 2023, up from around 6.3 million prior to the pandemic, according to Stephen Grimaldi, executive director of the organization.
The city of New York has 1.7 million people receiving benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program each month, and many New Yorkers rely on food pantries or free meal programs.
Data shows that as many as 12.8 percent of households in the United States experienced food insecurity at some point in 2022, a higher percentage than in 2021, according to a report released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in October 2023.
The population of homeless people in the United States increased by 12 percent in 2023 to around 653,000, the highest number since the country began using the yearly point-in-time survey in 2007, a recent report released by the Department of Housing and Urban Development revealed.
Unsheltered individuals grew by 20 percent in 2023, with major metropolitan areas being particularly affected. San Francisco has seen a rise in domestic homelessness and is struggling to accommodate hundreds of children seeking shelter.
In response to the homelessness crisis, shelters in San Francisco have been turning away families due to a lack of beds and food, prompting widespread outrage among advocacy groups.
The U.S. middle class continues to face economic pressures from high prices, with credit card debt reaching record levels in the third quarter of 2023, according to statistics from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
Many Americans are feeling the strain of increasing costs, with concerns about their financial stability and ability to afford basic necessities becoming more prevalent.
