We’ve all been affected by the pandemic but some of us have suffered far more than others.

We’re referring not to the disease and deaths that follow but to the economic and social fallout.

Some of us are isolated, yes, but we have jobs we can do in the comfort of our homes. Others have to go to work in difficult situations, made worse by the pandemic. Still others have lost their jobs entirely.

Nourishment is a basic human need. 

We wrote on this page earlier in the pandemic about two worthwhile legislative proposals — one, following Vermont’s lead to require unused food to be donated rather than discarded, and the other to codify the Nourish New York program into law.

We were gratified to report in November, right around Thanksgiving time, that the governor signed the Nourish New York legislation, sponsored by Senator Michelle Hinchey, representing our area, and Assemblywoman Catalina Cruz of Queens, into law.

The program at once helps farmers who have lost markets because of the pandemic and helps people who need food by rerouting surplus products to food banks.

At that time, we reported, a total of $85 million has been committed to Nourish NY since its launch in May 2020, impacting 4,178 businesses across the state.

“It’s very difficult to stand here today,” said Kathy Hochul before signing the bill in Queens, “and look out just over the parking lot there and see thousands and thousands of fellow New Yorkers lined up, some since 6 a.m., just to get a coat or a meal for the rest of the week. That, my friends, is not the New York that I want to govern. I want that to change. I want people to have hope.”

She also said, “This pandemic is not over. People are still suffering. People still don’t have their homes and their jobs.”

This was, of course, before the Omicron variant appeared and has since ripped its way through our state just as it was recovering from the previous year’s shut-downs.

We like the new law because it has a way of measuring the pulse of poverty, as expressed through food insecurity. It charges the commissioner of Agriculture and Markets, in consultation with the state’s health department, to conduct an annual review assessing the needs of the Hunger Prevention Nutrition Assistance, which provides emergency food relief and nutrition services to food insecure populations in New York State.

And then, too, we were gratified with the American Rescue Plan pushed through by the Biden Administration with benefits reducing child poverty.

And we’ve regularly run news of local food-pantry drives — smiling Scouts posed with their collections — and this week we have news of two more: thousands of dollars for food pantries raised during the Festival of Lights by Altamont Community Tradition and an upcoming drive for Little Free Food Pantries launched by B’nai Sholom Reform Congregation in Albany and Delmar Presbyterian Church in Delmar.

We’ve also regularly reported on the state’s extension of SNAP benefits.

The Supplemental Assistance Nutrition Program has its roots in the Food Stamp program, born in 1939 out of the Great Depression. Farmers had unmarketable food surpluses while there was widespread unemployment. The federal government program let people on relief buy stamps for food, which they’d turn in for surplus food for free.

The first administrator of the Food Stamp Program, Milo Perkins, said, “We got a picture of a gorge, with farm surpluses on one cliff and under-nourished city folks with outstretched hands on the other. We set out to find a practical way to build a bridge across the chasm.”

We had thought the Nourish New York legislation was building a similar bridge. But apparently, more is needed. Rural areas are more likely to suffer from food insecurity than metro areas. We shouldn’t have been complacent.

Our Hilltown reporter, Noah Zweifel, this week details how three organizations in the rural Helderberg Hilltowns have given away tens of thousands of pounds of food, feeding hundreds of households in the rural area.

But it may not be enough to help those in need in 2022.

The monthly payments from the American Rescue Plan, which began in July 2021 for families in need with children, have now run out and were not renewed as many had hoped. As we face perhaps more layoffs and furloughs brought on by the Omicron variant, we worry about the families who depended on that cushion.

One of the organizations Zweifel writes about is the Hilltowns Community Resource Center, which feeds an average of 80 families a month, roughly 400 people, its director, Mary Beth Peterson, estimates.

“We’ve been going to the far-out reaches of the county because the biggest problem in the last two months probably has been the price of gas … With the price of food and heat going up, people have definitely been struggling,” Peterson said.

People who have never needed help before do now. Some of the same people who used to contribute are now in need themselves.

Monetary donations to the resource center are down by probably half, Peterson said. “We’re definitely struggling to keep the pantry stocked because the amount we did last week was insane, because it’s the holiday season.”

The resource center used to get a delivery from the Northeast Regional Food Bank once a month but now, she said, “We’re going up there ourselves at least two extra times a month for food.”

The resource center is also making more deliveries to families who have to quarantine as the current Omicron surge breaks year-old infection records. Center volunteers leave groceries on porches of those who are quarantined.

The work of the resource center, supported by Catholic Charities, is essential and heroic. So is the work by the other community groups that have risen to meet the need.

“We’re keeping the same numbers,” Peterson said of handing out the same amount of food to each client, “but we’re starting to feel the pinch again with COVID and the price of everything.”

We urge support for government programs — particularly the Build Back Better Biden initiative that would reweave the social safety net (as well as tackle climate change) but has been boycotted by Republicans — since the figures on food insecurity make us ashamed to be Americans.

The latest figures are from 2020, before the full force of the pandemic was felt:

— Over 38 million Americans (11.8 percent) lived in households that struggled against food insecurity, or lack of access to an affordable, nutritious diet. This represents a 9 percent increase from 2019;

— One in seven (14.8 percent) households with children could not buy enough food for their families, considerably higher than the rate for households without children (8.8 percent);

— Households in rural areas, like the Hilltowns, experienced deeper struggles with hunger compared to those in metro areas, with higher rates of food insecurity overall (11.6 percent in rural areas compared to 10.4 percent in metro areas).

While we wait for our government to help bridge the growing chasm between the rich and poor, we, as individuals, can make a difference. If you have enough food to eat, donate to your local food pantry. 

“We’re all in this together” is a favorite saying of our county executive. Let’s act like it and help one another through.

With the next crisis, it may be you who needs a helping hand.