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The Samaritan Center looks to Help those who struggle with Hunger The Samaritan Center looks to Help those who struggle with Hunger

By Jose Lara Montenegro

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Syracuse poverty percentage has been around 20% above the country average, N-C-C News Jose Lara tells us about a negative action derived by poverty and how a local church is helping with a solution.
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That’s right, Syracuse is one of the poorest cities in the country. This poverty makes it harder for them to buy food and that leads to many families starving. However, some people are rallying in the community to help those in need.
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(Just knowing that I can help with the food, to just scope the food out of everyone’s plate just rather make me feel that I can make a difference, you know.)
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The Samaritan Center has served the city of Syracuse since 1981. This Non-profit serves meals to those who don’t have anything to eat in the city. One of their policies is no questions asked. Where they serve food to anyone who comes without preconditions.
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They have around 15 hundred volunteers a month and serve more than 120K (124K) annually.
Even though this year they are well on their way to reaching their expected amount of people served, they agree weather can be a factor determining how many people come to the center
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According to Feeding America, more than two-thirds of people who depend on food programs have been unemployed for more than 2 years. I’m Jose Lara, N-C-C News.
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Onondaga county food insecurity rate is nearly 13% (12.5), almost one percent over the State average.

The Samaritan Center is a nonprofit organization in Syracuse. They have been helping citizens since 1981, serving food for the hungry. They are open 365 days a year helping the city of Syracuse feeding them hot meals without asking questions or preconditions. Development Director Karen Belgrader says this need is essential specially since lately they’ve been declared one of the poorest cities in the country.

“People can rely on the Center, especially if they are going through a tough time,” Belgrader said. “But we can attend anyone that comes and just wants a free meal.”

The Center helps around 124,000 people every year. With 1,500 volunteers that help keep the center going. Andy Alice has just started volunteering at the Center and she believes she can make the city better.

“Knowing that I can help with the food, to scope the food out of everyone’s plate, just makes me feel that I can make a difference,” Alice said. “I still don’t know their names but seeing them happy makes my day.”

The Samaritan Center has a huge amount of people in the last two weeks of the month, the difference between those weeks and the first two weeks it’s noticeable.

“Usually in the first two weeks we have around 100 to 150 people that come to the Center,” worker Mark Bianchi said. “But usually in the third week we attend around 250, and in the last week we get to 400 people.”

Belgrader says this is because the assistance that they get for the earlier part of the month, as the food stamps, are not enough to maintain sometimes one person, and definitely not enough to maintain a family.

“I think some people spend around 20% of their income just in diapers, how could a single mother be able to maintain and feed herself and the baby if she spends all of that amount in diapers,” Belgrader said.

According to Feeding America one in every six children in the State of New York struggles with hunger and people facing hunger in the State require an estimated $1.2 billion more per year to meet their food needs

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