City Harvest Marks Major Milestone In Helping NYC's Hungry

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- An organization that collects food for pantries and soup kitchens in New York City is marking a milestone.

City Harvest says it has now moved 500 million pounds of food over its more than 30 years of service, WCBS 880's Paul Murnane reported.

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As New Yorkers spend more and more on things like rent and utilities, in the words of City Harvest's Matthew Reich, people just keep lining up.

"A lot of families who are working don't have enough money to provide three meals a day for their family," Reich said.

Just last year, people from 165 different zip codes received help from New York Common Pantry, where Daniel Reyes is deputy executive director.

"A lot of times folks go to a food pantry and the food pantry is equipped to serve a hundred, but 300 show up," Reyes said.

A lack of available space and funding prevents the development of food programs like New York Common Pantry in every neighborhood, and the need for that is clear, Murnane reported.

City Harvest serves nearly 1.5 million New Yorkers.