Bennette Deacy Kramer
I have been on the board of Nazareth Housing Inc. for nearly 30 years. I was introduced to Nazareth Housing by the late Steve Edwards, who was president of the Nazareth Housing board for over 20 years and who was, of course, a past president of the Federal Bar Council and founder and editor-in-chief of the Federal Bar Council Quarterly. During the time I have been on the Nazareth Housing board, I have watched it grow from an organization serving a small number of people to one that is key to community well-being in both the Lower East Side and the Bronx through its food pantries.
Those food pantries are now at risk due to the policies of the Trump administration.
A Brief History
Nazareth Housing was established in 1983 by Sister Marion Agnes Daniel, who took over houses on the Lower East Side that had been abandoned. Working with others, she renovated the buildings and housed families in apartments to alleviate homelessness. Nazareth Housing also provided services for those families to help prevent them from sliding into homelessness, which it still provides. Years later, in 2016, Nazareth Housing merged with the Thorpe Family Residence, expanding its services to the Bronx.
Food Pantries
But it is not the extensive services that Nazareth Housing provides to prevent homelessness and otherwise support families that I want to focus on in this column; rather, it is the service it provides to communities in the Lower East Side and the Bronx with its food pantries.
In 2012, following Superstorm Sandy, as Board Treasurer Leonard Shavel explained: “Nazareth didn’t wait for someone else to act. We mobilized our own resources, created a food pantry, and got to work helping our neighbors.” Longtime Nazareth supporters Anna and Jim Fantaci generously provided the resources for Nazareth Housing to create Louise’s Pantry, which created a lifeline for the Lower East Side community and which remains a vital support for families there. Louise was Anna Fantaci’s mother and in her memory the Fantacis endowed and continued their support of Louise’s Pantry.
In 2016, after Nazareth Housing merged with Thorpe Family Residence, Nazareth Housing expanded its services into the Bronx. Shavel explained that, since 2012, “Nazareth Housing has made fighting hunger a central part of our mission,” and with the addition of the Thorpe Family Residence, Nazareth Housing was able to broaden its reach and deepen its impact. With the impetus of the Fantacis’ generosity, Nazareth Housing has been able to grow the pantries, keep them running through the darkest days of COVID-19, and expand to meet the increasing need today.
From July 1, 2023, to June 30, 2024, Nazareth Housing’s food pantries:
● Saw an average of 1,091 unique households per month, providing food to 68,948 duplicated individuals;
● Filled 17,237 appointments;
● Supplemented 517,110 meals; and
● Distributed over 600,000 pounds of food.
Nazareth Housing uses its food pantries as a gateway to other services, such as case management, benefits enrollment, anti-eviction work, financial empowerment, and free tax preparation.
Funding Uncertainty
Actions by the current Trump administration have created uncertainty about the funding for the food pantries, along with food pantries across the nation. Nazareth Housing Executive Director Rachel Levine said this makes it more difficult for Nazareth Housing to plan. Nazareth Housing does not receive any direct funding from the government but does receive indirect funding through contributions in both food and grants from organizations such as United Way of New York and Food Bank for New York, which do receive grants from the government.
Moreover, the budget bill that recently passed the House of Representatives includes cuts to the SNAP program, which will cause more families to seek food and which, in turn, increases pressures on food pantries. Nazareth Housing does not think the organization will have to discontinue services, but it may have to reduce them. It is now and will be under considerable pressure in the future. For example, during a visit to the Lower East Side pantry, Nazareth Housing’s recent gala honoree Dave Markowitz of Goldman Sachs noted that the pantry basic, peanut butter, was in short supply.
Nazareth Housing’s food pantry is not the only one under stress; many others across New York City are as well. Nazareth Housing is lucky to have a solid financial base, but many other pantries and the people who rely on them are at great risk.