Managing The Pandemic: Food Supply





Managing The Pandemic: 
Food Supply
The Coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) is creating an unprecedented crisis in the modern world. The United States was woefully unprepared for the coming pandemic. The bombshell that is COVID-19 has overshadowed or delayed important 2020 world events, like the UN High-Level Political Forum, the spirit of US Presidential primaries, the Olympics, and cancellation of Graduation Ceremonies etc. The COVID-19 pandemic has the world on the edge of catastrophe. 
Despite the uncertainty and tragedy of the world’s current circumstances, there are still selfless people who are out there serving the sick and needy. This tradition has been around for ages, with stories like Noah and the flood up to modern examples like firefighters on 9/11.  Selfless and serving people always step out to serve the community. The Collegiate Congress, Inc., proudly follows in the steps of these helpers with its Student Support Project. This project is looking to help college students in New York City academia in this unprecedented crisis. However, we have many hurdles to overcome and we need help. 
New York City boasts almost 800,000 students pursuing education in 120 different educational institutions in New York City. Over five percent of that population is made up of international students. The almost 44,000 international students provide important money and resources that sustain our city’s schools. Even though New York City is listed as one of the richest cities in the world, it is not immune to poverty, economic disparity, or a lack of basic resources. In the case of international students, they often depend on visas that put strict stipulations on when and how they can study and earn money. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, many international students are stuck since they cannot meet their visa requirements and cannot earn any money. 
New York City has ramped up its funding of social welfare programs, particularly those that supply food. In just three weeks in March, the city has provided approximately 4.5 million meals to hungry New Yorkers through its soup kitchens, food pantries, and other community organizations. The city expanded its food budget by $170 million to help meet the need. The city also initiated a food delivery service where TLC-licensed drivers are paid to use their vehicles to deliver food and supplies to New Yorkers. Currently, over 11,000 TLC-licensed drivers have signed up to make these deliveries. (web source 1, pg14)
The Collegiate Congress, Inc. has always demonstrated a willingness to serve. In fact, it is our understanding that we were the first to do grocery deliveries to the needy. Collegiate Congress, Inc. opted for grocery delivery after we did some research about what other kinds of help were being offered. Most programs offered delivery of restaurant meals that were already prepared. While the program seemed to help both restaurants and the needy, we were convinced that we could find a better and healthier option for families. Additionally, we thought people would do better preparing their own meals and supplies, rather than being spoon-fed food. Doing no-contact delivery is also the safest way for us to deliver goods to people without the risk of crowds and disease transmission. Our one-time delivery of groceries lasts for 2-3 weeks. We have served over 300 people, mostly students, amongst several households with a limited budget of $4600. 
We categorize our requests into one of three groups: single student (consisting of a single adult), single-parent (consisting of one adult and one child), and family (3-4 people). Each category determines the amount of supplies and groceries with a single student gets receiving one case of canned milk, 4 x 1-gallon water, 1 loaf of bread, 1 box of cereal, 1 box of pancake mix, 3 cans of beans, 1 jar of oats, 5 packs of ramen noodles, 2 packs of rice, and 3 canned sausages. In some cases, we also supplied 4 rolls of toilet paper and pet food. The total cost for a single person is around $35-40 and the cost of supplies for a family is $70-75.
Most of the requests go through the Project Director, Ms. Jada. To confirm a person(s) individual prioritized items and credentials for safer delivery, the request is made via an online survey application (https://www.collegiatecongress.org/COVID-19/ ). Applications must be made with a verified school email address to cut down on fraud. The requests are tallied and categorized every third day. Then, according to the tally, a team does grocery shopping at big box stores such as Jetro or Costco. The delivery is done on the same day if there are perishables like fresh milk or fruits. Otherwise, the deliveries are scheduled to be done twice a week.
The management of such a project also includes a lot of human capital. Our initiative is all volunteer-driven. Apart from the daily gas expense, we haven’t spent any extra money. I believe that there is a wealth of human capital in the form of selfless people who are willing to volunteer their time and effort during this pandemic. The city and other groups must capitalize on these people. Offering a stimulus package of money or supplies for volunteers will give an extra incentive. People looking for work might be enticed by the financial incentive and offering a low subsidy to people in shelters could also increase turnout. This could also help drive down the amount of aid the government needs to distribute since the number of people in need is only likely to go up as the pandemic drags on.
At the end of the day, what matters is the dollars spent. There are an estimated 3.16 million households in NYC consisting of single members to 4-member families (web source 2). Since nearly half the working population under 45-years-old has applied for unemployment benefits, we can estimate that about 50% of these households are food insecure based on a lack of money. Assuming the average household has 2 people and a budget of $110 biweekly for groceries, the cost is estimated to be $347.5 million. Under the city’s taxi delivery program, each taxi could serve 285 households in two weeks. Each trip of $9 will earn drivers around $5130/month, which will cost the city $56.43 million just for delivery. Currently, TLC drivers earn about $53 per route delivering supplies to homebound people during the pandemic, which costs the city about $11.92 million/month. Although my suggested costs seem higher, my plan accounts for far more households than the current city plan. 
This report is to evaluate and share our method of managing food and resource availability during the pandemic.


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