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Thursday, May 22, 2008

Come And Get It

Urban Breakfast
Photo by myself in midtown.

There are fruit carts like this one on many corners of the city, especially in the morning. The carts compete for space with carts that serve the staple New York breakfast - bagels and coffee.

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Speaking of food, there was a yet another excellent article in this week's New Yorker magazine.

Unfortunately, the article isn't available online, but the magazine posted an mp3 recording of Ian Frazier, the author of the story.

Frazier writes about a soup kitchen at the Holy Apostles church at 9th Avenue and 28th Street, which serves 900+ people lunch every day. The article cites a chilling statistic: 1.3 million New Yorkers cannot afford food for their families. In other words, 1 out of every 6 New Yorkers is hungry.

This article is particularly good for those interested in writing, New York history and architecture.

Frazier leads a writers workshop in the same church every Wednesday afternoon. He has met all sorts of characters and recounts the history of the building, which is colorful. The church spends nearly $10,000 every day to provide meals, and the money comes primarily from individual donations.

Times are becoming tougher. Food prices are steadily rising. And with the recent cool temperatures, I see more and more homeless people in the subway stations every morning.

If this city is to survive, the statistics had better start changing for the better.


The Holy Apostles Soup Kitchen employs 40+ volunteers each day. Click here for their website.

Related posts: Castaways, Signs of Hope and The Underclass.

15 comments:

Patrizia said...

Beautiful colors! I love summer fruit, cherries and strawberries and so on. Right now cherries cost still very very much but peaches and apricots have a reasonable price .. so we are starting out with them!

Anonymous said...

Fresh is always nice to see but some fruit vendors around here make their buy at the local supermarket and then display the things on their cart at higher prices.

Anonymous said...

yes, fruit looks great when it is all piled up like that.

We eat fruit for breakfast in this house and I find the boys are only keen to take stuff when it is attractively displayed and when there is a little of a lot of things to try. Makes it a bit pricey but worth it I think.

You've made me feel hungry.

Carolyn said...

1 in 6. That is kind of scary.

God Bless The Holy Apostles Soup Kitchen for all that they do.

Carolyn

Kitty said...

Hi Patrizia
I have to force myself to eat fruit, lol. Good for you for being a fruit eater. It all sounds delish (in theory, lol)

Hi Mr Lincoln
I suppose the carts feel they offer convenience for their prices?

Hi RB
Mark feels the same way! Maybe it's something about guys and fruit?

Hi Carolyn
Mark was surprised too and now wants to volunteer. What a frightening stat!

Fredrik said...

The church you write about and the donators make a fantastic work! It seems US economy is quite weakened, and it hits everybody. A friend of mine just bought a Jaguar from an merican estate agent. He couldn't afford to keep it any longer.

Mom Knows Everything said...

That's scary statistics, and I imagine most of those are children.

JAMJARSUPERSTAR said...

The colours of these fruits are amazing! I wish we had fruit carts here - they're lovely to look at even if you don't get your 5 a day lol
Ciao, keep up the lovely photos

http://scarletsculturegarden.blogspot.com
http://jamjarsuperstar.blogspot.com

sonia a. mascaro said...

Nice photo! The fruits looks delicious!

I am amazed with that statistic: 1.3 million New Yorkers cannot afford food for their families... Very sad and also too much hungry people for the First World!

Mab said...

What excellent work the Holy Apostles church do.And that certainly is a shocking statistic, if only there were some easy answers to it.

Dana said...

amazing colors..so clear like i can reach out and grab a cherry..yummy :)

Mike said...

Hello again! I love bagels. I like salt or garlic.

Kitty said...

Hi Fredrik
I see loads and loads of European tourists on the streets right now. I bet they just go shopping.

I guess that's the thing with a world economy - for every country that's thriving, there are many not doing so well.

Hi Tammy
Unfortunately, the article was not clear about where the statistic came from. We can only hope that children have parents or guardians who are looking out for them. It's so sad.

Thanks Jamjar
I have a tough time eating fruit, so the photo is kind of funny to me. But I do enjoy how they look.

Hi Sonia
These stats make you think a bit and appreciate what you have. They also encourage you to give back to society.

Hi Mab
I wish there were easy answers. It's complicated, isn't it? The article said the lunches they serve provide enough calories to support an adult for a day.

But that's just a lunch, just the tippy top of a huge mountain. What about the rest, I have to wonder.

Thanks Dana!

Hi Mike
I have a soft spot for bagels, too, and have to prevent myself from binging on them, lol. I love everything and egg ones the most.

Ming the Merciless said...

What a sobering statistic!! I used to volunteer in the kitchen at God's Love, We Deliver in SoHo. But our target clients are people who were sick and could not afford to feed themselves.

It's always odd to me why people continue to live in NYC when the cost of living is so high. But then I heard we have some of the best welfare systems in the country.

Kitty said...

Hi Ming
I'd love to do more research on this. My eyes just about popped out when I read the article.

Good for you for volunteering. I'm thinking that people can't afford to leave. After all, it takes money to move, so the underclass just remains stuck.