Met Council distributes Passover food for the needy

Met Council, a Jewish nonprofit organization dedicated to fighting poverty, distributed food for the Passover holiday, providing relief for food-insecure New Yorkers, at its Brooklyn hub at 1271 60th St, on April 2.

In attendance to help distribute the food were Met Council leadership, City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, Councilmember Susan Zhuang, Assemblymember Simcha Eichenstein, and Assemblymember William Colton’s co-chief of staff, Dr. Larry He.

“This Passover, families across our community face unprecedented financial strain due to skyrocketing food costs, but Met Council is there to ensure that no one has to choose between paying for rent, medicine or putting food on the table,” said Met Council CEO David Greenfield. “Thanks to the generosity of our partners and donors, we provide vital food relief to more than a quarter of a million Jewish Americans during the most expensive time of year for Jewish families.”

The organization says it provides food for more than 250,000 people who celebrate the holiday.

The food packages included matzah, kosher-for-Passover chicken, gefilte fish, tuna and grape juice, along with pantry staples like apple sauce, kosher-for-Passover biscotti, borscht, kosher-for-Passover cake mix, chopped walnuts, cocoa powder, jam, lemon juice, macaroons, matzah meal, potato starch, sugar, tomato sauce and vinegar. (Leavened bread products are forbidden during Passover, so kosher-for Passover cake mix, for example, might contain potato flour, coconut flour or almond flour.

This year’s distribution was supported by major partners, including Deb El Food Products and UJA-Federation of New York.

“We work around the clock to get food into the hands of those who needed it most, and we are incredibly grateful to Deb El Food Products and all of our partners for making this historic effort possible,” Hannah Lupien, managing director of food programs at Met Council, said, highlighting the impact of this year’s campaign said.

Met Council and partner organizations also held food distributions in the other four NYC boroughs, along with Long Island, Westchester, Connecticut, New Jersey and elsewhere.