ALBANY – It has been two years since Governor Cuomo
announced creation of an anti-hunger task force and no report has been
issued. That has prompted the Hunger Action Network of New York State
to raise the question of where it is.
Network Executive Director Susan Zimet said the group is also asking for
an additional $16.5 million for the Hunger Prevention and Nutrition Assistance
Program to ensure that food pantries have enough inventory for everyone
who walks through their doors. That additional allocation went nowhere
after it was requested by lawmakers.
Zimet noted that when Cuomo announced the task force on December 9, 2013,
he said in this day and age “it is simply intolerable that one million
New York children are going to bed hungry and so many households are struggling
to put food on the table.”
Zimet said this time of year is when people donate to fight hunger, but
it must go beyond the holiday season.
“During this time, people think about the fact that there are people
l4ss fortunate than them so that is why this is the time to be talking
about it, but the reality is hunger is 365 days a year. Giving somebody
a meal on Thanksgiving is not helping them the day after Thanksgiving,
the day after and the day after and the day after, when they go back to
being hunger. This is an important issue. There is just no more time to
wait,” she said.
Zimet said the Hunger Action Network hopes that the governor’s
task force “will comprehensively attack the state’s hunger
epidemic and will include the necessary funds to fully meet the needs
of our friends and neighbors who are struggling.”
