ALBANY COUNTY — Since March 16, the Regional Food Bank of Northeastern New York has increased the food it donates by 50 percent, distributing more than five million pounds.

Over three million New Yorkers are currently out of work, noted Albany County Executive Daniel McCoy as he introduced Mark Quandt, executive director of the Regional Food Bank of Northeastern New York, at Sunday’s county press briefing.

“People have to make decisions whether to pay the rent, pay their medical bills, or pay their utility bill, or feed themselves — and that happens every day,” said Quandt. But now, he said, we’re facing an unprecedented situation with high unemployment and also with people under quarantine.

By March 16, when schools and businesses started closing, Quandt said, the Food Bank had already seen some increase in demand but then it had to “ramp things up very considerably right away.”

Since that time, the Food Bank has helped in several different ways. The not-for-profit organization continues to stock food pantries throughout the 23 counties it serves. “We cover pretty much the whole eastern part of New York State,” Quandt explained.

Many of those food pantries, he said, are serving 50 percent more people than they had before the pandemic and the resulting closures. “They rely heavily on the Food Bank so we have seen a 50-percent increase in our regular distribution,” he said.

But there is also a cap on what those local food pantries across the region are able to provide, Quandt said. So the Food Bank has partnered with many different groups, including Albany and Schenectady counties as well as other municipalities and not-for-profit groups. For example, groups in Cobleskill, Mechanicville, and Newberg have asked if the Food Bank can assist.

“Every single time we get asked, the answer is ‘yes,’ and we provide a load,” Quandt said. Each load is typically about 12 pallets of food, or about 12,000 to 15,000 pounds.

“We also have targeted certain groups,” said Quandt, naming seniors and children. It’s not safe for seniors to travel to grocery stores to shop, he said, so the Food Bank is working with senior-housing centers.

In normal times, the Food Bank runs school backpack programs that typically provide a weekend worth of food for a child in a low-income family, he said. The Food Bank works with 250 schools in that program, he said, and right now, with schools closed, 235 of those programs are still running.

Many of the school programs have, since the pandemic, added more kids or added additional food for high-risk families, Quandt said.

Over the years, the Food Bank has gotten “great support from the restaurant industry,” Quandt said. So, when a high percentage of restaurant workers were laid off, he said, “We offered extra food for their workers.”

Over the 23 counties served by the Northeastern Regional Food Bank, Quandt said, total distribution is up about 50 percent — and there is no end in sight.

“You can’t give out food unless food is coming in,” he said. The Food Bank is a member of Feeding America, a national network that brings in food from across the United States, Quandt said.

The food that the National Guard is distributing to quarantined county residents, like the food being distributed to pantries, is “not just canned food,” said Quandt. Rather, it includes produce, meat, milk and other dairy products “so people can eat normally and not take a big step back and hurt their health at the same time,” said Quandt.

On Sunday, Quant was presented with a $10,000 check by Peter Gannon of United Way of the Greater Capital Region. It was half of a contribution made by the local Muslim community; the other half went to Feed Albany, a volunteer effort to deliver meals to those who need them.

Quant concluded, “The last thing I would ever want to say to anybody who says, ‘We need food for our families and our community’ — I just can’t even imagine saying ‘no.’”