Masbia Giving More Food, But Meals Are Takeout-Only

As coronavirus fears spread, Masbia food network is modifying its food distribution to promote efforts aimed at social distancing

While hours of operations will remain the same, clients who will come to the Masbia Food Pantry for grocery items will be allowed to take up to 14 days worth of food, up from the usual 3-7 days’ worth of food.

Masbia Soup Kitchen’s nightly hot dinner will no longer be served as a sit-in meal, but will be packaged to-go.

“With the increased food anxiety among people, and in the spirit of social distancing, it only made sense to give people more, and ask them to show up less,” said  said Alexander Rapaport, executive director of Masbia.

“We will also turn to our donors to help feed the needy at this critical time,” Rapaport added. “Our labor costs are going up. With lots of volunteers cancelling, we will need to hire more temps. At this time of the year, we usually start the transition to Kosher for Passover food, but with the increase in demand now, we will need to anticipate doing a lot more on all fronts.”