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Speaker 1: Welcome to get connected with Nina del Rio, a weekly

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Speaker 1: conversation about fitness, health and happenings in our community on

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Speaker 1: one oh six point seven Light FM.

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Speaker 2: Thanks for listening to get connected approaching Thanksgiving with one

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Speaker 2: of our favorite conversations of the year. iHeartRadio New York

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Speaker 2: is once again teaming up with Why Hunger For Hunger

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Speaker 2: than Hunger Thon is an annual radio tradition organized by

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Speaker 2: y Hunger to educate and raise funds to confront the

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Speaker 2: root causes of hunger in America and defend the right

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Speaker 2: to nutritious food for all. You can take action, donate

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Speaker 2: or bid on exclusive iHeartRadio auction items at hungerthon dot

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Speaker 2: org now through December ninth. Why Hunger works with community

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Speaker 2: based organizations across the country that are tackling the systemic

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Speaker 2: injustice at the root of hunger through creative local solutions,

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Speaker 2: and our guest for this conversation is Denny Marsh, executive

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Speaker 2: director of Neighbors Together, a Brooklyn based soup kitchen, social

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Speaker 2: service and community advocacy center that Why Hunger has been

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Speaker 2: proud to work alongside for over a decade. Danny Marsh

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Speaker 2: of Neighbors Together welcome to the show.

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Speaker 3: Thank you so much for having me. It's a pleasure

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Speaker 3: to be here.

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Speaker 2: To find out more, you can visit Hunger thon dot

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Speaker 2: org and Neighborstogether dot org. So Neighbors Together opened its

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Speaker 2: doors in nineteen eighty two, it's a long time ago.

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Speaker 2: Can you talk about the story from back then and

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Speaker 2: what the organization has evolved into.

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Speaker 4: Yes, Neighbors Together was founded in nineteen eighty two by

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Speaker 4: a small group of Catholic nuns in the neighborhood who

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Speaker 4: saw a great need to open an emergency food program.

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Speaker 2: At the time, this.

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Speaker 3: Was during the Reagan administration.

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Speaker 4: It actually felt like a similar time to right now,

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Speaker 4: where the Social Safety Net had been divested from and

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Speaker 4: there was great need in central Brooklyn for food access.

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Speaker 4: And everyone at the time thought that Neighbors Together would

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Speaker 4: not be around for more than a year. And here

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Speaker 4: we are forty three years later, and our programs and

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Speaker 4: our missions have evolved. Our mission is to end hunger

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Speaker 4: and poverty in Ocean Hell, Brownsville, and Bedford Stuyvesan, which

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Speaker 4: are three the lowest income neighborhoods in Brooklyn and in

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Speaker 4: New York City. And we do that through a three

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Speaker 4: pronged model that combines direct food access with wrap around

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Speaker 4: social services to help people access stabilizing resources like housing

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Speaker 4: and healthcare and employment. And we also engage our low

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Speaker 4: income neighbors in community organizing and advocacy efforts to change

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Speaker 4: public policies that in a way that will improve the

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Speaker 4: lives of low income people across the city, in the state,

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Speaker 4: and the nation.

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Speaker 2: This is a mission that's aligned with Y Hunger. Can

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Speaker 2: you talk about your partnership with the organization.

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Speaker 4: Yes, Neighbors the Other has been truly blessed to be

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Speaker 4: connected to Y Hunger for as you said earlier, over

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Speaker 4: a decade. We first got connected to Y Hunger because

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Speaker 4: we applied for a grant from Y Hunger and we

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Speaker 4: were selected for their Harry Chapin Self Reliance Award back

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Speaker 4: in twenty twelve, I believe, and that was.

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Speaker 3: Thirteen years ago. But we've stayed connected since that first

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Speaker 3: year of being a grantee. And why Hunger has been

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Speaker 3: an incredible partner to Neighbors Together. They are an amazing

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Speaker 3: connector of nonprofits working on the front lines, not only

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Speaker 3: connecting us to other groups in the city, but connecting

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Speaker 3: neighbors together to other groups nationally who are doing really

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Speaker 3: innovative work on the ground around addressing hunger in their communities,

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Speaker 3: and Why Hunger has created a learning network among the

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Speaker 3: national anti hunger organizations that are working on the front

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Speaker 3: lines in a very beautiful way.

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Speaker 4: They've also been continuing to support Neighbors Together through their connections,

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Speaker 4: their incredible connections to the music industry. They do a

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Speaker 4: lot of advocacy within that space and a lot of

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Speaker 4: promoting of small community based groups like ours within the

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Speaker 4: music industry. And so we've been connected to amazing musicians

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Speaker 4: through Springsteen and Rage Against the Machine who have held

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Speaker 4: local concerts in the city and have raised significant funds

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Speaker 4: to support our work in the work of other organizations

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Speaker 4: like us.

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Speaker 2: Why Hunger is a pretty amazing organization. And again, right now,

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Speaker 2: Hunger Thon is on. You can take action, donate or

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Speaker 2: bid on exclusive iHeartRadio auction items to support organizations like

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Speaker 2: Neighbors Together via y Hunger at hungerthon dot org. Now

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Speaker 2: through December ninth, you're listening to get connected on one

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Speaker 2: six point seven light FM Amina del Rio. Our guest

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Speaker 2: is Denny Marsh, executive director of Neighbors Together, and to

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Speaker 2: get a little bit more about the scope of what

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Speaker 2: you do. Who is the community you serve?

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Speaker 3: Now?

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Speaker 2: How many meals do you serve annually? Can you talk

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Speaker 2: about just the scope of your work.

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Speaker 3: Neighbors Together serves the lowest income people in New York City.

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Speaker 3: So we serve people who are unstably housed or who

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Speaker 3: are experiencing homelessness.

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Speaker 4: We serve people who are looking for work. We serve

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Speaker 4: people who have jobs, many who have multiple jobs and

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Speaker 4: are just simply not making enough money to pay rent

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Speaker 4: and buy food and cover the costs of medicine and

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Speaker 4: supplies and clothing and all the costs of living. The

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Speaker 4: cost of living in New York City is so high

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Speaker 4: right now that we are seeing really all kinds of

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Speaker 4: people on our line. We are serving asylum seekers who.

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Speaker 3: Have recently come to the city in search of more

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Speaker 3: stability in their lives and really have a need for

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Speaker 3: food access and other resources as well. And we're serving families,

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Speaker 3: families with children, college educated folks, seniors who are living

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Speaker 3: on fixed incomes. Just a really wide swath of people.

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Speaker 2: I think the average person doesn't think about that. So

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Speaker 2: many people who are on food assistants and other kinds

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Speaker 2: of assistance, are actually working, they have jobs. That's the

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Speaker 2: majority of people who come out, correct.

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Speaker 3: Yes, I think that that is correct.

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Speaker 4: People are utilizing emergency food programs as a way to

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Speaker 4: supplement their very limited income. You know, the research is

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Speaker 4: showing that rent in New York City has risen seven

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Speaker 4: times faster than wages in the past couple of years

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Speaker 4: since the pandemic, and that's a really unsustainable life for

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Speaker 4: most New Yorkers and people.

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Speaker 3: It's not that people aren't trying very hard and aren't

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Speaker 3: working and aren't trying to have you know, secure housing

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Speaker 3: and take care of themselves and their families. It's that

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Speaker 3: they are doing all those things and wages are not

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Speaker 3: keeping pace with the cost of living at all.

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Speaker 2: So how has given that? How has the trajectory of

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Speaker 2: need changed in the last few years and the community changed.

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Speaker 4: We have seen a significant increase in need in the

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Speaker 4: past few years, and there's been sort of waves of that.

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Speaker 4: The pandemic was you know, a huge.

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Speaker 3: Wave of just a crisis that created a ton of need.

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Speaker 4: And then in you know, twenty twenty two, twenty twenty three,

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Speaker 4: as we were all sort of emerging from the pandemic

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Speaker 4: and kind of settling into the new normal. The influx

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Speaker 4: of new asylum seekers into the city really began and

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Speaker 4: started to peak, and we were seeing a lot of

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Speaker 4: new people on our lines, a really new population for

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Speaker 4: us and a population that had tremendous level.

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Speaker 3: Of need, and we were really grateful to be able

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Speaker 3: to be there for folks who are newly arriving in

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Speaker 3: our country and trying to get their sea legs here.

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Speaker 4: And now we're kind of in this new I would

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Speaker 4: call it kind of like a third cycle of need

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Speaker 4: where the federal under the current administration, the federal government

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Speaker 4: has demonstrated a lack of care for people who are

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Speaker 4: low income and working class in our country and in

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Speaker 4: our city, and there has been a really clear divestment

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Speaker 4: from the Emergency Food Network, so our federal funding and

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Speaker 4: federal funding nationally for emergency food programs, this is separate

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Speaker 4: from SNAP, but funding cash funding for emergency food programs

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Speaker 4: has been on pause since late January early February twenty

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Speaker 4: twenty five, and it's on indefinite pause. So that's been

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Speaker 4: a real challenge in terms.

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Speaker 3: Of navigating a higher need time with significantly less resources.

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Speaker 2: So how are you funded? Beyond that?

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Speaker 3: We have historically received city, state, and federal funding for

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Speaker 3: emergency food We've received federal funding for decades, you know,

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Speaker 3: and this is the first year emergency food programs are

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Speaker 3: not receiving federal funding. Outside of government funding, Neighbors Together

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Speaker 3: is funded by institutional supporters, through private foundations. We have,

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Speaker 3: you know, some multi year funders that are major partners

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Speaker 3: in our work. We have wonderful smaller family foundations that

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Speaker 3: support our work. We have some corporate funding, and we

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Speaker 3: have funding from a wide.

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Speaker 4: Swath of you know, just general individual donors who are caring,

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Speaker 4: concerned citizens and want to support all of their neighbors

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Speaker 4: in the city, and Neighbors Together is a place where

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Speaker 4: they can tangibly do that.

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Speaker 2: And there's still but there still remains a gap between

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Speaker 2: the federal funding and what other people are able or

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Speaker 2: have provided for you.

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Speaker 3: There remains a gap. The federal funding is deeply the

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Speaker 3: federal funding withholding is deeply felt. And it's not just

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Speaker 3: at Neighbors Together, it's nationally and so the entire food system,

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Speaker 3: emergency food system is really strained right now because of

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Speaker 3: this funding that is has not been dispersed.

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Speaker 2: So you started out saying that the mission of neighbors

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Speaker 2: together is not to alleviate hunger, but to end hunger. Yes,

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Speaker 2: the mission of Hunger thon and y hunger. And there's

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Speaker 2: many organizations that have the same plan, that work with

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Speaker 2: the same circumstances, with similar types of issues. Why hasn't

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Speaker 2: hunger been solved in the US? One thing we know is.

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Speaker 3: That hunger is a solvable problem, and homelessness is a

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Speaker 3: solvable problem, and poverty is a solvable problem. And I

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Speaker 3: think that these issues have not been solved over the

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Speaker 3: course of these forty years plus throughout the history because

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Speaker 3: the priorities of people with you know, the most resources

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Speaker 3: and the most power in terms of decision making around

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Speaker 3: how resources are allocated, have not made decisions that will

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Speaker 3: end these social ills. And so there has not been

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Speaker 3: an investment enough investment in political investment in creating policies

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Speaker 3: where there is equity, where there is access, where there

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Speaker 3: is a value for all humans that supersedes the value

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Speaker 3: of power and money in our country, and there has

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Speaker 3: not been political will to create social housing or reduce

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Speaker 3: rent or you know, really put rent limits in place

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Speaker 3: that are feasible for the lowest income people in our city.

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Speaker 3: And so we're seeing the highest levels of homelessness that

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Speaker 3: we've ever seen. I think we're at a crisis point

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Speaker 3: that is solvable with political will and political investment in

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Speaker 3: the housing system and in the you know, really bringing

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Speaker 3: down the cost of living in the city would significantly

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Speaker 3: impact in a positive way the rates of food and security,

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Speaker 3: the rates of homelessness, and the rates of people living

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Speaker 3: in deeper levels of poverty that are at all necessary.

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Speaker 2: So what would you say to someone listening to this conversation.

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Speaker 3: I think we're in a time where we have to

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Speaker 3: get creative around finding and being part of the creative

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Speaker 3: force to end these problems. And I do think everyone

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Speaker 3: plays a part.

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Speaker 4: And I have, like one of the mantras that I

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Speaker 4: think about a lot is that small is all and

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Speaker 4: the large is a reflection of the small. And so

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Speaker 4: every single person matters. The every act of generosity, of care,

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Speaker 4: of connection, of being in relationship with the problems of

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Speaker 4: our nation and of our city matters. And neighbors together

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Speaker 4: is a place where you can take concrete action as

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Speaker 4: a single individual to make a huge impact on the

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Speaker 4: lives of other people who are your neighbors. And that's

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Speaker 4: a beautiful thing, and it's a really important thing, particularly

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Speaker 4: in this time.

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Speaker 2: Let's talk about opportunities for people to support you. Then

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Speaker 2: people can do it as individuals, and you can also

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Speaker 2: work with corporate volunteers.

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Speaker 3: Yes, thank you for asking this.

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Speaker 4: Neighbors Together has plenty of opportunities for folks to volunteer

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Speaker 4: with us throughout the year. We take volunteers every day

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Speaker 4: of the week Monday through Friday. We welcome individual volunteers,

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Speaker 4: and we also love to host corporate groups as well.

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Speaker 4: This is an area we're trying to grow in and

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Speaker 4: have had wonderful partnerships come through through corporate volunteerism. We

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Speaker 4: host small teams of corporate employees who would like to

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Speaker 4: volunteer in our soup kitchen. We also have had corporate

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Speaker 4: groups do wonderful things for us, like collect clothing for

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Speaker 4: clothing drives for our members, particularly as we head into

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Speaker 4: the colder season. That can be a really wonderful way

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Speaker 4: for corporate groups to support our neighbors. Some wonderful corporations

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Speaker 4: have matching gift programs and employees can donate either through

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Speaker 4: contribution every month through their own paycheck, or can pool

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Speaker 4: together with their colleagues to support Neighbors Together.

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Speaker 3: And request a company match. Many companies are matching employee

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Speaker 3: giving these days, which is really exciting.

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Speaker 2: So during hunger than for anybody who's listening. When you

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Speaker 2: bid or donate or get into the action with the auction, there,

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Speaker 2: your funds go directly to organizations like Neighbors Together. Denny,

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Speaker 2: what would you say to people about, you know, how

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Speaker 2: the funds are used locally when they contribute through Hungerthon

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Speaker 2: Neighbors Together.

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Speaker 4: I think, like many community based organizations, operates on a

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Speaker 4: very shoe string budget in many ways, I would say that,

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Speaker 4: you know, eighty to ninety percent of donations go directly

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Speaker 4: into our programs. So when you make a donation to

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Speaker 4: Neighbors Together, whether it's five dollars or you know, ten

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Speaker 4: thousand dollars, every dollar accounts, and every dollar really supports

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Speaker 4: the meals that we serve, the services that we provide,

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Speaker 4: and the systemic change work that we are also engaged

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Speaker 4: in to try to create a city where hunger and

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Speaker 4: homelessness and poverty are no longer such burdens for low

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Speaker 4: income New Yorkers.

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Speaker 2: You can take action, donate or bid now at Hungerthon

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Speaker 2: dot org again through December ninth, Denny marsh Is, executive

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Speaker 2: director of Neighbors Together. Thank you for being on to

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Speaker 2: Get Connected.

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Speaker 3: Thank you so much, it was such a pleasure.

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Speaker 1: This has been Get Connected with Nina del Rio on

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Speaker 1: one oh six point seven light Fm. The views and

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Speaker 1: opinions of our guests do not necessarily reflect the views

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Speaker 1: of the station. If you missed any part of our

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Speaker 1: show or want to share it, visit our website for

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