Hundreds of residents in New York City lined up for a free Easter Sunday meal just outside of the Bowery Mission homeless shelter as poverty rises across the nation in the wake of the coronavirus epidemic.
Local residents were observed as they were lined up on the Sunday afternoon however, all of them were in caps, masks, and gloves, as were waiting for a free meal.
Owing to the coronavirus pandemic it has become difficult for the people to meet both ends and upon this a number of businesses have also been mothballed. These became reason for double lines in front of the homeless center whose red doors have feeding the poor since 1970’s.
These lines are a clear sign that citizens are facing acute shortage of food.
Bowery mission posted a heart touching message on their social media site,’Our thoughts are with you this Easter weekend despite all the confusion and problems facing our society and nation. And we remain optimistic because of God’s love vows, mostly expressed in the kindness of friends like you. So we wanted to say: Thank you,’
They added, ‘Sadly, a lot of visitors arriving at our Red Doors have dropped on rough times. We’ve seen many new faces due to current developments, with fresh concerns. Your support reminds them they’re not alone.’
The mission said that on Easter it will prepare more than 60,000 meals for the starving New Yorkers. Whereas, there are over 550,000 virus infections in the US, including 20,000 COVID-19 deaths.
There are 188,000 cases of the virus in the world and more than 9,000 deaths since Saturday evening in New York, the international epicenter of the epidemic
May 1 is the date on which the Trump administration has decided to lift the stay-at-home restrictions, Food and Drug Administration commissioner Stephen Hahn said on Sunday.
Yet he warned, it was still too early to know if the target is really achievable.
‘I have never seen any more burden on a system,’ said Claire Babineaux-Fontenot, CEO of Feeding America.
‘We’ve definitely got to turn some people away for the first time in our history,’ she added, not because ‘we don’t intend to do so, ever.’ However, Sunday marked a bleak Easter celebration for the world as public celebrations and meetings are not permitted in the wake of home orders.