About 60 New York legislators and elected officials volunteered at the Puerto Rico Food Bank’s facilities in Carolina, packing food for families facing food insecurity on the island. The service day was coordinated by the nonpartisan organization Somos Inc., whose conference, themed "Abriendo Caminos" (Opening Paths), concluded on Saturday, and was hosted by Food Bank For New York City together with the Puerto Rico Food Bank.
Mari Jo Laborde, president and CEO of the Puerto Rico Food Bank, asked the visitors to carry the experience back to New York and Washington and push for SNAP to be extended to Puerto Rico. She said charity cannot do the work of a social safety net. One in three Puerto Rico families lives with food insecurity, the highest rate in the United States and triple the national average.
Puerto Rico remains excluded from SNAP and instead receives capped block-grant funds through the Nutrition Assistance Program (PAN), which benefits about 1.42 million residents in a typical month and cannot grow automatically in a recession or disaster. In 2024 the food bank distributed about 20.9 million pounds of food across the 78 towns, 51% more than in 2020.
About 85% of food consumed on the island is imported, and the organization’s fuel costs have risen more than 50% in six months. Leslie Gordon, president and CEO of Food Bank For New York City, said SNAP provides 9 meals for every one a food bank provides. About 1.6 million New York City residents live with food insecurity.
Under federal law H.R. 1, signed July 4, 2025, more than 23,000 New Yorkers lost SNAP access last summer, and from October 2028 New York may have to contribute about $1.2 billion a year.