Gov. Hochul Joins Met Council In Setting New Record: Over 2 Million Pounds Of Kosher Food Distributed For Yom Tov

On Wednesday, Gov. Kathy Hochul joined Met Council on Jewish Poverty in distributing Glatt kosher food to thousands of families ahead of and during the Jewish High Holidays at the organization’s Brooklyn Hub, a community center that provides food, health care enrollment, employment assistance and other social services in partnership with UJA-Federation of New York.

Met Council distributed a record 2,016,982 pounds of kosher food to food-insecure individuals and families ahead of Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur and Sukkot, making it the largest Jewish High Holiday food distribution in American history. Met Council worked with 162 partner organizations to distribute fresh produce, proteins, traditional holiday foods like apples and honey and household staples.

Gov. Hochul helped distribute food to families as part of the effort, including fresh produce secured through Nourish New York, a state program, developed by her administration, that connects upstate New York farmers with downstate food pantries that provide food to New Yorkers in need.

“The state is proud to partner with Met Council, and some of the food being distributed here comes through our Nourish New York program. It’s important that food grown right here in New York can go right to New Yorkers who need it,” said Gov. Hochul.

The visit to Met Council’s Brooklyn Hub, strategically located between Borough Park and Bensonhurst, also highlighted the organization’s role as a leading community-based provider of food and social services. Funded by UJA-Federation of New York and operated by Met Council, the Hub brings a wide range of services together under one roof, including a kosher food pantry, help applying for and renewing SNAP and Medicaid benefits, health insurance assistance, employment and career services, senior services, Holocaust survivor services, legal assistance, emergency financial assistance, family and elder abuse services and a myriad of other benefits assistance programs.

As part of the visit, Gov. Hochul also distributed Cholov Yisroel infant formula to families in need. Following a three-year effort by Met Council and the Hochul administration, the state DOH approved the specially certified kosher formula for WIC for the first time in August. WIC is a nutrition program that helps eligible pregnant women, new mothers and young children afford healthy food and infant formula. The change allows eligible families who follow kosher dietary laws to use their WIC benefits to purchase Cholov Yisroel formula.

“I’m really proud that we can now have kosher baby formula covered by WIC. Being a mom-governor, I understand how important baby formula is,” said Gov. Hochul.

Gov. Hochul also toured one of Met Council’s Social Care Network screening centers inside the Brooklyn Hub. Social Care Networks are part of the Hochul administration’s effort to use Medicaid funding to invest in keeping Medicaid recipients healthier by providing access to healthier foods, housing and transportation benefits and other services by connecting them to community-based services who can help them before those problems contribute to more serious health issues. The approach is designed to make targeted investments in keeping people healthy and potentially avoid Medicaid needing to fund more costly medical care later. The program improves health outcomes and reduce costs.

“This is what partnership between government and community organizations looks like,” said Met Council CEO David G. Greenfield. “Gov. Hochul has helped turn government programs into real help for people, from securing food for communities through Nourish New York, to making WIC work for families who need Cholov Yisroel formula, to using Medicaid resources to address problems before they become health crises. We are proud to work with her administration to make these programs work for the people who need them.”

Met Council’s High Holiday distribution included 659,432 pounds of fresh produce, 55,026 bottles of grape juice and 48,384 bottles of honey, along with apples, chicken, frozen fish, eggs, soup mix, tea biscuits and pantry staples including canned fruits and vegetables, flour, oil, pasta, rice, beans and canned fish.

More than 500 volunteers participated in the effort, which included 13 Market by Met Council sites and expanded Met Council’s reach into Long Island and upstate New York.