When six-year-old Maya arrived at one of the Urban Resource Institute’s shelters with her mom and little brother, they had nothing but the clothes on their backs and the courage to start over.
That first night, Maya asked her mom when they would eat. Her mother tried to stay calm, but she had no answer. Hours later, URI staff arrived with groceries and warm meals that turned fear into comfort and a shelter room into a home.
For families like Maya’s, food is more than nourishment. It is stability, dignity, and the first step toward healing.
A Growing Crisis
Like Maya’s mom, many of the families in URI shelters rely on SNAP benefits to buy groceries and feed their children. But with the ongoing federal shutdown threatening to freeze SNAP this Saturday, that sense of security is once again in jeopardy.
Across the country, millions of families are facing food insecurity—and here in New York City, the risk is devastatingly close.
Every night, URI provides safe housing for nearly 4,000 people across 24 shelters, and 65% of them are children. Without access to food assistance, parents are forced to make impossible choices between rent, transportation, and their next meal. For survivors of domestic violence and families facing homelessness, the loss of SNAP is not an inconvenience—it’s a crisis.
Beyond Shelter: Building Futures
At URI, we know that a meal can be the first step toward rebuilding a life. Food is part of healing, just as housing is part of hope. That’s why our continuum of care goes beyond emergency shelter to include counseling, economic empowerment, legal advocacy, and job training.
From our Economic Empowerment Program to trauma-informed family services and pet-inclusive shelters, every URI program is designed to meet people where they are and help them take the next step forward.
But this progress depends on stability—and right now, that stability is under threat.
How You Can Help
When government systems pause, communities must step up. Your gift can make an immediate and life-changing difference for families like Maya’s:
• $100 gives a survivor comfort on their first night in shelter.
• $250 feeds and supports an entire family, including beloved pets, for a week.
• $500 ensures parents can attend critical legal, counseling, and job training sessions.
• $1,000 keeps a survivor and their pet together, healing side by side.
• $5,000 equips a survivor with three months of financial and career coaching.
Every dollar fills cupboards, fuels recovery, and keeps hope alive.
Join Us
As the shutdown continues to disrupt vital programs like SNAP and HUD funding, we cannot stand by while families go hungry. Together, we can make sure no child like Maya has to ask when they will eat again.
Help us continue our lifesaving work for families facing housing insecurity and violence. Donate Now.
