The Bronx, Queens, Kings, Herkimer, and Oswego are the counties with the highest rates of food insecurity among adults.

39% of adults in the Bronx experience food insecurity.

22.1% of adults in Richmond County experience food insecurity.

24.9% of adults in New York State experience food insecurity.

Hunger can result in malnutrition, an inability to concentrate, anxiety and depression.

Adults who experience food insecurity are more likely to report diabetes, heart disease, asthma, and cancer.

There are several programs that support increasing food and nutrition security across the state:

• The Hunger Prevention and Nutrition Assistance Program

• The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC)

• The Commodity Supplemental Food Program offers

• The Child and Adult Care Food Program

There is a record-high demand for food assistance

2024 was the highest demand for food in this organization's 32 years.

Cultivating Culture is an organization that teaches families to grow their own food

The founder of Cultivating Culture has also created a community fridge stocked with pre-packaged meals.

They are seeing that it is not just the poor who needs assistance- the middle class also does

They are going to many churches as resources:

• Church of the Nazarene

• Community Christian Concern

• First Baptist Church

• Greater Northshore Full Gospel:

Hempstead is a food desert

A food desert is a place where fresh, nutritious groceries are difficult to access.

The non-profit Community Solidarity runs food share programs to connect residents with free vegetarian meals.

More than 220,000 residents of Long Island are food insecure.

• 65,000 of these are children

Around two dozen communities on Long Island are food deserts.

In Nassau County 2022, the food insecurity rate was 7%

55% of Nassau County residents were above the SNAP threshold

45% of Nassau County residents were below the SNAP threshold

The average meal cost was $4.65

The annual food budget shortfall was $85,171,000

In 2014, one in four adults on Long Island faced insecurity at one point during the year

In 2018, there were over 160,000 people on Long Island who were food insecure

Families do not need to be living in poverty to be considered food insecure

34% of people in Suffolk County who are food insecure don't qualify for SNAP

Each day, over 63,000 people struggle without support to get enough food

Long Island has a high cost of living, so although some people might have enough money to live in other places of the country, it is difficult inn Long Island.

Additionally, some people's salaries exceed the income limits to get SNAP food benefits.

After the COVID-19 pandemic, food insecurity in Long Island increased

According to 1 2022 report, to live on Long Island, a family of four should have an income of around $100,000 for basic necessities.

The SNAP benefits are given to people who have a gross income limit of $45,000 in NY for a family of 4

In Suffolk County, 40% of the 80,000 food insecure residents earned above the gross income SNAP threshold in 2021