News
From going hungry to helping
By Jaden Perry
When Elliott Carter was homeless and struggling with drug addiction, The Church of Saint Francis Xavier helped him turn his life around. “Xavier gave me a chance to sit down and eat and get my mind straight. All that chaos out there. I could be calm in here, and I could ask advice,” the 63-year-old said.
He continued: “One of my darkest moments, I remember literally sleeping in the gutter … I had nowhere to go but up. I needed help and Xavier was open. I came here, I went through a detox and through a rehab and I just kept struggling along.”
His triumphs include being hired part-time as a staffer at the “customer-choice food pantry” and “Welcome Table” of Xavier Mission, a key part of that Catholic parish on Manhattan’s West Side. Now, instead of dining at that table, as he once did, Carter now spends his Sunday afternoons serving prepared meals to those who show up to eat.
Xavier Mission is one of 535 food pantries and 123 soup kitchens across the five boroughs providing groceries or prepared meals, according to the Food Bank of New York City, trying to help meet the nutritional needs of those who confront food insecurity. Since 2019, according to City Harvest, requests for help from those food pantries and soup kitchens have increased 75%.
Amid that rising demand, Gothamist reported that Mayor Eric Adams’ administration proposed a 56% spending cut, reducing fiscal 2025 funding to $25 million for the city’s Community Food Connection. Formerly known as the Emergency Food Assistance Program, it is a major funding source for privately run food programs such as the one at St. Francis Xavier.
Critics have blasted the proposed funding cut.
“Current investment in fighting hunger is not just underfunded, it’s a slap in the face,” Greg Silverman, CEO of the West Side Campaign, wrote in testimony he submitted to the New York City Council General Welfare Committee.
“It’s almost like shooting yourself in the foot when you cut from areas like social services,” said social worker Cassandra Agredo, Xavier Mission’s executive director. “It’s going to have an effect in other areas as well.”
The demands on food pantries are linked to such broader concerns as the high cost of housing for low-wage workers and the ripple effects of spending a disproportionate share of household money on housing, Agredo said, adding that grocery and meal giveaways are “band-aid solutions” that, nevertheless, too many people are forced to rely upon.
“Food pantries aren’t meant to be a primary source of food for a family,” she said.
As she and other advocates urge officials not to cut the city’s emergency food budget, Carter continues helping St. Francis Xavier’s Welcome Table to fulfill its mission. “That’s what counts, helping one another out,” he said. “No matter where you come from or where you’re going, you need places like this.”
Carter no longer is homeless. But he can’t forget the hardest part of that experience. “It was so difficult getting human decency. Even if I know you can’t help me, at least give me some words of encouragement, but don’t kick me to the curb.”
So, in addition to handing a plate to those who eat at St. Francis Xavier’s table, he dishes up encouragement, he said. “‘If you need to cry, cry. If you need to laugh, laugh. Just always know that people care about you and that it can get better.’”