The economic crisis has intensified the problem of hunger among New Yorkers, which can be attributed to unemployment and a decline in donations to food banks.

The reason is simple: "People are struggling to put food on the table for their own families," Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-New York) said yesterday from Washington D.C. during a telephone interview, when she announced that she is pushing for four bills that seek to alleviate hunger.

According to a report from Gillibrand's office, 340,000 families in New York City do not have enough to eat and the number of meals distributed by food banks has jumped to 50 million, a 75 percent increase since 2006. 

The hungriest borough is Brooklyn, where an estimated 99,500 families are suffering from a lack of food. Queens is the borough with the second highest number, while the Bronx saw the highest rise in the number of meals distributed by food banks, at 110 percent.

The first bill seeks to increase federal funding for emergency food programs from $250 million to $500 million. This will help compensate for the decline in donations by businesses, which have gone down by 2 percent this year, Gillibrand noted.

This legislation would also guarantee continued funding for emergency food programs that are set to expire that the end of the year. "We want to ensure that federal support doesn't end. We want to make it permanent," she said.

The second bill makes donations of leftover food from restaurants and factories tax deductible. The third bill would make donations from retirees' pensions tax deductible. 

The fourth bill, presented by Senator Charles Schumer (D-New York), gives tax benefits to hunters who donate wild game to food banks and other anti-hunger programs.

Senator Gillibrand affirmed that there is bipartisan support in Washington for these bills.