Food, a human right

I photographed the Hempstead food share on April 8 and April 22. I was drawn to photographing this subject because I’ve seen the share set up at the train station and it’s an integral part of the community every week, but I’ve seen very little coverage of this regular event in the media.

Community members begin to line up for the food share in Hempstead outside the train station on April 8 an hour before food is distributed. The food is donated from specialty stores such as Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s: it’s reaching its expiration date and legally required to be thrown out.

Volunteers sort apples before the food share can begin. At the front of the produce line, each community member can select 15 fruit or vegetable items.

The youngest volunteer in sight pitches in. Many of the volunteers also get groceries from the share. This little helper and her father picked up groceries as well as volunteered.

This volunteer is part of the food access section: pictured here on April 22, she’s shopping for community members who are handicapped and find it difficult to wait on line. The handicapped community members wait in a designated area and tell her what items they need.

A volunteer aids a community member with getting “naranjas.” Many of the community members don’t speak English. This man spoke Spanish and while assisting him, this volunteer easily transitioned from English to Spanish. Some of the community members don’t speak English or Spanish and the volunteers often have to resort to frantic pointing to try to get a message across.

Community Solidarity believes “food is a right, not a privilege.” Here, a volunteer hands a community member two fresh peppers. Every week, Community Solidarity saves tens of thousands of pounds of fresh food from being thrown out and then gives it to the community.

A volunteer said, "you just can’t ask questions." Individuals need not provide any sort of documentation in order to get free food: they just need to show up. Thus, members of the work force struggling to make ends meet mingle with the homeless at the food share. Here a man wearing a collared shirt and tie gets groceries at the food share.

After all the produce deemed acceptable to handout by the volunteers has been given out, these community members scavenge through boxes of bruised or moldy food for more. They already received at least 15 produce items: they just want or need more food to last them until next week.

The volunteers wait to give out the flowers last. Here, a volunteer hands out flowers. One volunteer said the community members love the flowers: many of the people here, they can’t afford a luxury like flowers normally.

Two women and two girls leave the food share with their haul of flowers.