Amid the seasonal shopping frenzy of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, bargain-hungry New Yorkers should remember to set aside a few bucks for Giving Tuesday — today — when local charities ask for donations to help the needy among us. I invite you to join me in sending cash to ten of the best New York–based organizations that help our neighbors who need food, as well as groups that tackle the toughest forms of serious mental illness and substance abuse.
“47 million Americans live in households that can’t afford enough food; this is not some little niche issue. Here in New York City, 1.2 million city residents don’t have enough food,” Joel Berg of Hunger Free America told me. “Hunger is often equated in people’s minds with homelessness. But 90 to 95 percent of the people hungry or food insecure in America and New York aren’t homeless, they’re just poor.” Berg’s organization conducts research and advocacy on hunger nationally and locally. “New York City still has the lowest school breakfast participation rate out of every big city in the United States,” he says. “Every one of the last three or four mayors promised to fix that, and they just haven’t.” Donate here.
About a quarter of our children are food insecure, but the problem is also acute among homebound elderly New Yorkers. Citymeals on Wheels brings food and companionship to 22,000 seniors five days a week with the help of 18,000 volunteers and support from donors. Citymeals recently completed an eye-opening report on the growing dimensions of hunger and loneliness in our midst. About 20 percent of the group’s clients are 90 or older; 400 of them are over 100 years old. “Think about what the city was like 100 years ago and what they’ve seen in their lifetime,” CEO Beth........