Irish-born novelist Joseph O’Neill, who has adopted Crown Heights as his hometown, experienced a rare international childhood.

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Irish-born novelist Joseph O’Neill, who has adopted Crown Heights as his hometown, experienced a rare international childhood.

The post Joseph O’Neill’s recent novel ‘Godwin’ mirrors his international experience, but it’s Brooklyn he calls home appeared first on Brooklyn Eagle.

NYC food pantries are becoming flooded with an unexpected clientele: full-time working New Yorkers who still cannot afford to put bread on their tables.

The anti-poverty advocacy group Robin Hood released its annual food insecurity report on Monday, showing an alarming trend: One in three adults (31%) and nearly half of families with children (44%) experienced food hardship in 2023.

According to the report, dubbed the 2024 Poverty Tracker, which examined food pantry use from 2015 to 2023, the number of employed New Yorkers who visit pantries soared from 5% in 2019 to a shocking 11% in 2023.

“As the city’s affordability crisis deepens, more New Yorkers, including workers and parents, are forced to make impossible choices between food, housing and other essentials,” said Richard Buery, Jr., CEO of Robin Hood.

According to the report, two in three pantry users in New York worked in recent years, and a large majority of those (71%) worked consistently over a three-year period. The study was conducted in collaboration with Columbia University’s Center on Poverty and Social Policy and its Population Research Center.

Meanwhile, New Yorkers who receive SNAP benefits — a federal program to help low-income families afford food — are turning out less often at local pantries. The Robin Hood report shows the percentage of pantry users receiving food assistance benefits like SNAP dropped from 66% in pre-COVID-19 pandemic times to 44% in the years since.

The reason for the flip? In large part, many New Yorkers with jobs earn too much to receive financial assistance but too little to afford groceries regularly.

“This year’s spotlight on food assistance is a sobering reflection of a city where half the population either lives in poverty or is one missed paycheck away from it,” Buery said. “The data is a clear call for stabilizing supports like cash assistance, wage increases and eligibility reforms to SNAP, all to better ensure New Yorkers most in need are adequately fed.”

The grocery bill is too damn high

Most New Yorkers would not be surprised at the results of the report. The price tags on food staples at local supermarkets show inflation — and possibly price gouging — has not improved much since the start of the pandemic:

Dozen large eggs: $4.99, Stop & Shop, Brighton Beach, Brooklyn

Rice Krispies, family size box: $9.99, Key Food, Woodside, Queens

Arnold Country Style Whole Wheat Bread: $5.29, ShopRite, North Shore, Staten Island

Store brand gallon of milk: $4.29, Stop & Shop, Kingsbridge, the Bronx

One russet potato: $0.99, Trader Joe’s, Chelsea, Manhattan

The new look of hunger

Matt Jozwiak, co-founder and CEO of Rethink Food, which connects excess food in restaurants to people in need, said NYC has a new look of hunger, which is far from the “long bread lines of the 1920s.”

His organization partners with cafes, delis and restaurants to prepare and deliver more than 30,000 meals weekly to local community-based organizations in all five boroughs.

“Restaurants provide so many benefits to neighborhoods because the people who work there get to eat for free,” Jozwiak said. “Almost every restaurant in the city has at least one free meal daily for the staff. If you take all the restaurants in NYC and put it together, that would probably be the biggest food insecurity nonprofit in New York.”

Jilly Stephens, CEO of City Harvest, said people come to food pantries not only because of the high cost of groceries. Other challenges, such as child-care costs and affordable housing, fuel the trend.

She said that soup kitchens and pantries that partner with City Harvest are seeing a shocking one million more visits each month than before the pandemic.

“High costs for food, child care, and housing make it increasingly difficult for New Yorkers to put food on their tables,” she said. “The report reveals that a majority of people who visit food pantries have jobs, an indication that wages cannot keep up with the high cost of living in New York City.

Robin Hood researchers said policy decisions at the federal and state levels could determine whether pantry use returns to pre-pandemic levels.

PRESIDENT-ELECT DONALD TRUMP is likely to name Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick to head the Department of Commerce.

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The yellow banana fixed to the white wall with silver duct tape is a work entitled “Comedian,” by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan.

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After a four-year hiatus, the Sixth Avenue Bible Baptist Church at 97 Lincoln Place in Park Slope, revived an annual tradition that began in 2013: honoring officers of the 78th Precinct with the “Police Officer of the Year” award.

Senior Pastor Richard Johnson established the award after officers from the 78th Precinct helped him during a terrifying incident at the church.

The award serves as Johnson’s way of thanking the NYPD for their positive work, which he says often goes unnoticed, with the department receiving attention only when there is a problem.

“[NYPD officers] do so many things behind the scenes, and we just need to say, ‘Thank you,’” Johnson told Brooklyn Paper. “So the real gist of the event is to be able to just take that opportunity and recognize all [police officers] do.”

Johnson has not held an award ceremony since the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, but he plans to revive the tradition of honoring New York City’s finest.

“We’re trying to resurrect the event, not only for the NYPD but also for the community,” Johnson said. “It’s recognizing the rank and file that are among us all the time that we need to say, ‘You know what, thank you for adding to our lives.’”

This year’s recipient was recently retired NYPD Detective 1st Grade Brian Laffey. At the awards ceremony on Nov. 17, Johnson noted that Laffey skipped the fanfare of the NYPD’s usual retirement walkout ceremony, opting instead for an “Irish Goodbye.”

“I didn’t realize that an ‘Irish Goodbye’ was a thing. There’s only one time he ever gave me any problems, and that’s when it’s time to honor him,” Johnson said during his address to the congregation, which included Laffey, his wife, NYPD Detective Tracy Laffey, and officers from the 78th Precinct and Patrol Borough Brooklyn South Community Affairs Section.

“Apparently, Mr. Laffey had this plan that he was just going to slip out the back door, and no one would notice. What about that? It’s a testimony to his humility,” Johnson continued. “We would like to say we’re sad to see you go, but as that next chapter of your life begins, we wish you the very best. You’ve been more than community relations; you’ve been a friend to our church [and] to me.”

Laffey, a Staten Island native, began his career with the NYPD in March 2000. He was first assigned to the 123rd Precinct in Staten Island, then to the Community Affairs Bureau at the 78th Precinct in Brooklyn. In March 2023, Laffey joined the Patrol Borough Brooklyn South Community Affairs Section and recently retired after almost 25 years of service.

Addressing Pastor Johnson and the congregation, Laffey acknowledged the long-standing friendship between him and Johnson, who always provided a source of strength. While Laffey appreciated the accolades, he emphasized that the award also belonged to the NYPD officers “who serve tirelessly, day in and day out, protecting our community.”

“Police work is often challenging, but it’s made so much lighter by the support of communities like this one, which stands by us, prays for us, and keeps us lifted in faith,” said Laffey, who received the Assistant Chief Patrick D. Brennan Cop of the Year Award in October — one of the NYPD’s most prized honors.

At the following banquet, P.O. Brian Ferguson of Patrol Borough Brooklyn South Community Affairs told Brooklyn Paper that he owed Laffey “a lot,” describing the retired cop as a great inspiration and “one of the best cops” he knows.

“[Laffey] is definitely going to be missed,” Ferguson said. “He built a lot of bonds in the community, and we kind of all have to follow the footsteps that he already laid out for us.”

BROOKLYN NATIVE CAPT. TERRENCE “VILLAGE” SHASHATY handed over command of “the Cradle of Naval Aviation”.

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The City University of New York is launching a free-standing medical school with the goal of expanding students’ access.

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