Many New Yorkers' choice: Food or rent?

By Reuters

Food or rent? That is the daily choice faced by about 1.2 million of New York's 8.2 million people.

Faced with that choice, most pay rent and rely on emergency or charity food to survive, poverty activists say.

"It's a struggle," said 53-year-old Pierre Simmons, who has a part-time job, as he wrapped up a bagel from his soup kitchen lunch for later. "I have a job, but the cost of living is so high it makes it hard to buy food."

Hunger is not unique to New York. More than 12 million U.S. households -- or 35 million Americans -- struggled with hunger in 2005, according to the federal government.

But of all places in the United States, New York has perhaps the most visible income gap.

While the city's Wall Street bankers are due to collect nearly $24 billion in bonuses this year, more than one-fifth of New Yorkers are battling to make ends meet below the national poverty line of about $10,000 a year for an individual.

About 3,800 people were living on New York streets in 2006, according to city statistics.

'I feel angry'

From a 100,000-square-foot warehouse in an industrial section of the Bronx borough, Food Bank for New York City distributes more than 65 million pounds of food a year to more than 1,200 community groups and charities in the city.

"I feel angry that we still need to be in this kind of business," said Lucy Cabrera, the food bank's president and chief executive.

"I would rather be giving my expertise to try and solve the hunger issue in a Third World country, where they have no food. Here we have the food," she said, as workers zipped about the warehouse floor on pallet jacks filling agency food orders.

Surviving on free food

On the other side of the Bronx, people began to gather outside a soup kitchen operated by Part of the Solution, or POTS, as rain started to drizzle from the sky.

"When I first came here, it was a lot of minorities, drug users. Now it's the families, the struggling person," said Executive Director Sister Mary Alice Hannan, who has worked at the organization for 10 years. "There's just some kind of a lack of awareness of the size of your family versus your income, your ability to live."

The Food Bank for New York City says one-quarter of the city's 1.9 million children live in poverty, that 40% of families with children had difficulty affording food in 2005 that and one-fifth of the city's children rely on free food to survive.

The POTS soup kitchen, in operation for 25 years, serves about 325 lunches and dinners a day and gives out around 2,700 generically packed shopping bags, each containing nine meals.

Hot dogs and baked beans, served with a bagel, were on the menu at POTS one weekday shortly before Christmas. More than 100 people streamed through the doors during a three-hour lunch window, and strangers sat silently together to eat.

"You don't have to be homeless to be hungry," said POTS kitchen manager Daune Moore, who is known as Diz, as she stood with her arms folded watching over the lunchtime crowd.

Hard to stay healthy

Ironically, many people struggling with hunger are also battling the bulge, and both the Food Bank For New York City and POTS aim to provide nutritious, balanced meals.

"I get my child a hamburger, french fries and soda, and they're satisfied, and it's only cost me 99 cents. I go to the supermarket, and I can't even get a can of beans for that," said Cabrera, of the Food Bank for New York City.

The food bank, which helps distribute food for 250,000 meals a day, hands out more than 11 million pounds a year of fresh produce.

"It's about being able to feed people in a way so that they stay healthy, continue to work." Cabrera said.

But for some at the POTS soup kitchen, working is no longer an option. Virgilio Avilus, 45, limps back to his table carrying his lunch. In 1988, he was working as a window washer, earning up to $1,000 a week, when he fell four floors.

After spending six months in a coma and 10 years in hospitals, Avilus now has an apartment of his own that costs him $200 a month. His government income is $250 a month.

"That's all I have to my name," he said. "I have to eat here. I can't be spending $10 a day on food."

This article was reported and written by Michelle Nichols for Reuters.