Cars backed up for miles wait outside food bank to receive free groceries

South Florida residents were backed up for hours waiting to get food from a food bank.

On Monday, a drone captured aerial images of the long line of cars in Sunrise, Florida, where motorists hoped to receive food from Feeding South Florida, a local food bank. Since the novel coronavirus outbreak has left millions of people across the country unemployed, Feeding South Florida has seen a 600 percent increase in Floridians asking for an assortment of food, ranging from milk, eggs, bread, chicken, fruit and veggies, according to Daily Mail.

SUNRISE, FLORIDA – APRIL 06: An aerial view from a drone shows vehicles lineup to receive food provided by the food bank Feeding South Florida and being given away by the City of Sunrise. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

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The food bank has enough food to meet demand. The Miami Herald said the coronavirus has forced farmers, who normally sell their crops to restaurants, airlines and other businesses in hospitality, to have an excess of fresh produce and that food banks like Feeding South Florida are getting loads of it.

SUNRISE, FLORIDA – APRIL 06: A City of Sunrise employee sorts food, provided by the food bank Feeding South Florida, into bags to be distributed to people arriving in their vehicles. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Sari Vatske, executive vice president of Feeding South Florida, said she has watched the need increase six-fold while her staff has been cut by three-fourths due to stay at home orders.

“The math is not on our side,” she told the Daily Mail.

Food that doesn’t end up at food banks is often turned into mulch or simply thrown away.

“The volume is at a level we’ve never seen before,” Stephen Shelley, president, and CEO of Farm Share, told Daily Mail. “It is overwhelming the system.”

Farm Share is one vehicle by which this excess food is delivered daily to food pantries, churches, schools, and other nonprofits. Each of its 25 refrigerated trucks and six warehouses are filled to the brim with the excess food and delivers 2.5 million meals a week to Florida residents, the newspaper reported.

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Since the middle of March, more than 520,000 Florida residents have applied for unemployment. This compares to 326,000 for the entire year last year.

There are 16,826 confirmed coronavirus cases in Florida as of Friday morning, according to Floridahealthcovid19.gov, and 371 reported deaths.

The post Cars backed up for miles wait outside food bank to receive free groceries appeared first on TheGrio.

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Kamala Harris Calls Trump a ‘Drug-Pusher’ for Touting Hydroxychloroquine

Former presidential candidate and U.S. senator from California, Kamala Harris took to The View recently to give her thoughts on President Donald Trump pushing the anti-malaria and lupus drug hydroxychloroquine as a miracle treatment for COVID-19.

“The president keeps taking the stage and as opposed to what Dr. [Anthony] Fauci and medical health professionals are telling us, pushing this drug,” Harris said on The View. “He’s got to stop — he’s not — we don’t want a drug pusher for president.”

Trump has been touting the drug during his daily press conferences concerning the coronavirus outbreak in the United States.

“I certainly understand why the president is pushing it,” Dr. Joshua Rosenberg of Brooklyn Hospital Center said in a Times article on Monday. “He’s the president of the United States. He has to project hope….So I’m not faulting him for pushing it even if there isn’t a lot of science behind it, because it is, at this point, the best, most available option for use.”

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the American physician and immunologist who has served as the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since 1984, who frequently joins Trump and Vice President Mike Pence at coronavirus press conferences, has repeatedly said that all reports of the successful treatments of COVID patients with hydroxychloroquine are anecdotal and have not been proven successful by a peer-reviewed scientific study.

“I think we’ve got to be careful that we don’t make that majestic leap to assume that this is a knockout drug,” Fauci told Fox News on Friday. “We still need to do the kinds of studies that definitively prove whether any intervention, not just this one, any intervention is truly safe and effective.”

In New York State, doctors have been treating patients with hydroxychloroquine, but also caution about the expectations of successful treatment.

“There has been anecdotal evidence that it is promising,” Cuomo told reporters while noting the drug’s effectiveness has not yet been scientifically proven.

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About 1 in 10 Americans Are Looking For Work

The ongoing coronavirus pandemic has shut down entire industries, forced millions of Americans to shelter-in-place, and completely upended the labor market.

According to a U.S. Labor Department report released Thursday, another 6.6 million Americans filed for first-time unemployment claims last week. That brings the total claims to nearly 17 million in the past three weeks, which is about 1 in 10 workers in the labor force. The staggering new figures also mark a historic high as the second largest number of initial unemployment claims on record since the Labor Department started tracking the data in 1967.

Many of those claims were filed by restaurant workers along with healthcare and social assistance employees. California, New York, and Michigan — three of the states suffering most from the pandemic — saw the largest increase in claims last week.

The ongoing surge in filings for unemployment insurance has been exacerbated by self-employed and independent contractors who are now allowed to file for claims under the $2.2 trillion federal coronavirus relief bill enacted last month.

Economists say the numbers will only get worse as up to 20 million people are expected to be out of work by the end of April and the unemployment rate is expected to hit 15% by June.

Meanwhile, some economists say the actual unemployment rates for minorities are probably much worse. Dean Baker, the senior economist at the Center for Economic & Policy Research, told CNN that the true rate is likely 20.7% for African Americans and 18.7% for Hispanic workers.

According to CNN:

About 30% of workers at hotels in 2019 were Hispanic, and another 19% are black, according to the BLS. Restaurants, bars and other food services, which have been particularly hard hit, had 27% of workers last year who were Hispanic, and 13% who were black.

 

At department stores, most of which have shut down because of the crisis, 19% of employees were black and another 19% were Hispanic. The catchall labor department category that includes temporary workers, custodial help and landscaping services lost 61,000 jobs in the official March labor report. About half of those workers are minorities.

Prior to the global health crisis, the American job market had been strong. In February, the unemployment rate was 3.5%, following 113 straight months of job growth. Recovery from the economic downturn will only be determined by how quickly the novel coronavirus can be contained.

 

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Friday's Best Deals: an XBOX One Controller, a Ella Paradis Sex Toy Bundle, Hamilton Beach Sale, and More

A Hamilton Beach sale, RAVPower file hub, GMG Spring video game sale, an XBOX One controller, and a Mr. Espresso lead Friday’s best deals.

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JPMorgan Chase Announces Brian Lamb as Global Head of Diversity & Inclusion

Today, JPMorgan Chase announced Brian Lamb as the Global Head of Diversity & Inclusion. Beginning May 4, Lamb will assume the newly created position and report to the firm’s co-presidents, responsible for executing a strategy that builds on the firm’s existing work and further incorporates a diversity lens into how the firm develops products and services, serves clients, helps communities, and supports employees.

The new role will strengthen and improve coordination of the firm’s existing strategy to support underserved communities as well as elevate the firm’s existing Diversity & Inclusion initiatives, including Advancing Black Pathways, Advancing Black Leaders, Military & Veterans Affairs, Women on the Move, the Office of Disability Inclusion, Global Supplier Diversity, and regional and line of business diversity functions. These focused efforts to-date have strengthened the firmwide culture in important and measurable ways.

In a statement released by JPMorgan Chase, Lamb shared his excitement about joining the company at such a pivotal time in corporate America.

“I’m excited to join JPMorgan Chase and help to further foster a culture where diversity and inclusion are a central and driving force. A company that is diverse and inclusive can better serve our customers, employees and communities—and that is good for business.”

Gordon Smith, co-president for JPMorgan Chase and CEO for Consumer & Community Banking said that JPMorgan is grateful to have Lamb on the team.

“Brian’s deep experience is precisely what we need to help our firm build on our diverse and inclusive culture, and drive it into every corner of our company. Building a culture where all employees and customers are treated equally and feel welcome is a business imperative, and we’re fortunate to have Brian’s leadership in this critical area.”

Lamb has a track record of leadership and is joining JPMorgan from Fifth Third Bank where he served as executive vice president and head of Retail Banking. Over the span of his 13-year career, he has led Fifth Third Bank as head of Wealth & Asset Management and chief corporate responsibility & reputation officer. He has also served as chair of the Tampa Bay Partnership and held board positions with the Florida Bankers Association and Florida Council of 100.

Some of Lamb’s notable work includes a former partnership with the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, which was a $30 billion community commitment that focused on access to capital for small businesses, first-time homeownership, and educational opportunities for underserved communities and people of color.

Daniel Pinto, co-President for JPMorgan Chase and CEO, Corporate & Investment Bank is equally as excited to have Lamb spearhead the company’s efforts to become more inclusive.

“Applying a diversity lens to everything we do is critical to running a successful business,” said Pinto. “We are more effective when we take a diverse and inclusive approach to our work, and with Brian on board, I believe we’ll be more successful all around.”

As JPMorgan Chase continues its efforts to diversify the company and support communities of color, Lamb is ready to help lead the charge.

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