While a pandemic is a health emergency, more New Yorkers were adversely impacted by the economic effect and are still recovering. As the pandemic turned into a recession, and so many people needed basic food help, Chef Ruben Diaz transitioned Masbia Soup Kitchen Network’s services into an outdoor, ready-to-go, 24-hour operation. He also transitioned the extraordinarily long bread lines into a digital appointment system which operates in 7 languages. On average he and his team at Masbia distributed more than a million pounds of food each month to hungry New Yorkers.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, the Masbia Soup Kitchen Network has mobilized to respond to the emergency food needs of NYC. Masbia is continuing to respond to a 500% increase in demand. Each day close to 500 families visit Masbia every day at each of the three locations. That means about 1,500 families a day and 7,500 every week get food relief from Masbia.

Masbia is a grass-roots, hand-to-mouth organization where every dollar donated makes it into someone's stomach in less than two weeks. Everything that is done at Masbia is done only because tens of thousands of people come together and share resources to make it happen.

Now that we’re in the recovery phase, celebrating the fact that Chef Ruben Diaz and his team at Masbia touched so many people's lives, an invitation to march in the Hometown Heroes Parade in recognition of their roles as essential workers is a welcome honor that he and his team are happy to take part in.