One line here is for a weekly distribution. Another stretches along Fifth Avenue and wraps around the corner for the Thanksgiving meal distribution.
It's a meal Elisabeth Negron is thrilled to receive.
She has come to depend on the NY Common Pantry for a number of reasons.
"We got no food stamps, so have to go everywhere to get a little food," she said.
The supermarket is no longer an option because the prices have gotten too high.
"Do you know how much the turkey (costs)? Twenty dollars, maybe thirty dollars," she said. "Milk is like $4 now. Chicken is a lot. The eggs - $8, $10, $12. That's crazy."
Elisabeth isn't just feeding herself. She's helping her two adult children, who work, and their 4 children.
"We had a 118 % increase in the number of folks coming and registering for the pantry in the first week of November," Stephen Grimaldi, the executive director of the pantry, said.
That spike was largely due to the government shutdown and the delay in SNAP benefits.
Grimaldi says he's increasingly seeing working families relying on the pantry.
"Food is so expensive. It's an affordability crisis that people are experiencing now. We've seen groceries go up in the last decade by 33% and wages have not kept up with that," Grimaldi said. "We're starting to see working people who are really struggling to make ends meet, can't afford basic necessities like groceries and this is what the outcome is," he said.
It isn't just families who are feeling the stress of higher food costs.
"The last six months, I can't afford it. It's too expensive," East Harlem resident Sonia Gibson said. "Everything was higher. A pack of wings is $19. I can't afford wings. A pack of chicken breasts was $12. I can't afford that. A steak? Nah."
Gibson, 66, is a single grandmother known as Miss Peaches in the neighborhood. She pops by the pantry every week because her fixed income doesn't stretch far enough.
"Life savers. Life saver for us, especially in this community," she said about the pantry.
Back at Elizabeth's apartment, 10 blocks away in a NYCHA building, she unloaded her haul with help from a neighbor.
She has staples - rice, beans, oatmeal, and she is planning a plentiful Thanksgiving
She just wishes it were less of a challenge to keep her fridge stocked and her family fed, but she's grateful the NY Common Pantry is making her whole this season.
"I feel great. I got food," she said.
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