In the lead-up to the Jewish High Holidays, local officials and community leaders gathered at Tomchei Shabbos of Queens located at 129-01 Metropolitan Ave. in Kew Gardens on Monday, Sept. 30.
U.S. Representatives Gregory Meeks and Grace Meng, Attorney General Letitia James, State Senators Joe Addabbo and Toby Ann Stavisky, Council Members Vickie Paladino, Linda Lee and Jim Gennaro, and many others were on hand to assist the Met Council in distributing food staples to over 181,000 food-insecure Jewish New Yorkers across the tri-state area. The mass distribution event aimed to help families celebrate the holidays with traditional meals, despite rising grocery costs.
The Met Council, America’s largest Jewish charity dedicated to serving those in need, provided holiday essentials, including fresh produce, challah, matzo ball mix, and proteins like chicken and fish. Additionally, special items such as honey, apples, grape juice, and round challah were distributed to mark the significance of the Rosh Hashanah season. In light of a 250% surge in egg prices, over 432,000 eggs were included in the packages as part of a total of $4.78 million worth of food distributed at more than 143 sites in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut.
David G. Greenfield, CEO of the Met Council, highlighted the importance of ensuring families can celebrate the High Holidays with dignity despite economic challenges. “In the past year alone, egg prices have surged over 250 %, a stark increase for a staple item compared to last Rosh Hashanah,” said Greenfield. “Everything is more expensive. This rise in costs for basic food necessities means more families are facing food insecurity on a regular basis and are forced to choose between nutritional food or paying for basic living expenses. Our mission is clear: to ensure that families can celebrate this Yom Tov season with dignity, coming together to enjoy the holidays and start the new year on a positive note.”
Monday’s distribution, one of many facilitated by the Met Council during the High Holiday season, brought together more than 600 volunteers, including elected officials and community members. Aaron Cyperstein, Managing Director of Legal and External Affairs at Met Council, emphasized the importance of the distribution for families during this significant time of year. “This distribution will be feeding 400 families,” Cyperstein noted. “The advantage of this type of pantry partnering with Met Council is that the family gets everything they need. They start the holiday knowing that they have it all.”
Over 13,000 pounds of food were distributed from the Queens site alone, including pantry staples like grape juice, oil, flour, chicken, eggs, salmon, and sardines. For Jewish families observing the High Holidays, these food items are deeply symbolic, representing both the joy and hope for a prosperous new year. “If they have food on the table, they say, ‘The food that we have now should be an illustration of us having food the whole year,’” Cyperstein added. “So by having the food, they’re smiling and saying, just like the start of the year was with happiness and with enough food and to be satiated, our whole year should be, so the food is so important for this holiday.”
During the event, volunteers packed and distributed the food packages, which were delivered to the homes of those in need on Monday and Tuesday. The Met Council purchases and coordinates the delivery of the food to the pantries, ensuring that Jewish families across the region have what they need to observe the High Holidays.
Founded in 1972, the Met Council’s “Kosher Food Network” is the largest kosher food pantry program globally, serving over 305,000 individuals annually. The organization’s social services division assists more than 34,000 New Yorkers through various programs supporting domestic violence victims, the elderly, Holocaust survivors, and affordable housing.
