ABC7 Reports on Masbia Soup Kitchen in Borough Park Seeing Demand for Food Increase Amid Government Shutdown

BOROUGH PARK, Brooklyn (WABC) — Food pantries are preparing for a looming crisis: SNAP benefits run out on Saturday for more than 3 million people in the Tri-State area who rely on them to eat.

It’s a busy time at a food bank in Borough Park, Brooklyn.

“You know how they say certain things are a luxury? Food is not a luxury,” said Laura Allen of Masbia Soup Kitchen.

The flow of clients never stops, as residents make app-based appointments for essentials they can’t afford on their own.

Masbia Soup Kitchen is the life’s work of Alex Rapaport.

“Masbia is in Hebrew to ‘satiate, to satisfy.’ We want to satiate every living creature,” Rapaport said.

He’s the nonprofit’s executive director and says demand has started to increase, now 27 days into the government shutdown.

What has him deeply concerned is what will happen just four days from now when government-funded food stamps disappear.

“That means so many people who get their help by going to the grocery will not only rely on emergency food providers like us,” Rapaport said.

It’s a real fear for 42 million Americans, who stand to lose food assistance, even though Congress already set aside billions in contingency funds to be used in the event of a shutdown.

Instead, the president blames Democrats, who have refused to fund the government while trying to block steep cuts to healthcare.

“This is purely Democrats, they’re doing some really bad things,” President Donald Trump said. “I think they’re lost souls. Do you know what that is? They are lost souls.”

Democratic New Jersey Senator Andy Kim called the actions from the Trump administration “plain cruel.”

“This is something they’ve been trying to gut for a long time, so they are gleeful about the effort to do harm to so many Americans,” he said.

Meanwhile, the people who need food are suffering.

“If people don’t have food, it becomes really sad. It’s just reality,” Rapaport said.

 

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