NYC Food Help β official city pantry finder
The city's own map of food pantries and community kitchens, updated far more often than any static list. Start here.
Kong New York · nobody eats alone in this city
Food & Shelter
Food & Shelter
New York City
Food pantries, soup kitchens, mobile markets and the lines that answer at three in the morning — borough by borough. Everything on this page is free. Most sites do not ask for ID, do not ask your status, and do not ask what happened. If one is closed, the next one is not.
⚠ Call before you travel
Pantry hours in this city change constantly — sites move, close, run out, or switch to appointments. Ring the number on the card first, or call 311, so you are not walking across a borough to a locked door. Where hours are not printed here it is because we would rather say nothing than say something wrong.
Start here
These are live and city-wide. They know about sites that opened this week and this list does not — if you only have battery for one call, make it one of these.
NYC 311
Dial 311 from any phone in the five boroughs. Ask for food assistance, shelter intake or benefits β they will route you and can read out the nearest open sites.
National Hunger Hotline
Free, confidential, English and Spanish. Operated by Hunger Free America β they will find emergency food near whatever address you give them.
Plentiful β free pantry reservations
Free app and text line used by hundreds of NYC pantries for booking a time slot, so you are not standing in a line that has already closed. No smartphone needed β it works by text.
Food Bank For New York City
The city's largest hunger-relief org. Their "Get Help" page locates member pantries and kitchens borough by borough.
City Harvest Mobile Markets
Free fresh produce handed out from trucks on a fixed monthly schedule across all five boroughs. Check the site for this month's stops β no registration, no ID.
Coalition for the Homeless β Grand Central Food Program
Vans run a fixed route every night of the year, in every weather, handing out hot food at set stops across Manhattan and the Bronx. Route and times on the site.
NYC Homeless Outreach β Street Help
24/7. Call this to get an outreach team to someone sleeping rough β including yourself. They bring food, clothing and a route into shelter or housing.
Safe Horizon
24/7 crisis lines for domestic violence, crime victims and youth. If home is not safe, start here rather than at a pantry.
NYC Well β free mental health support
Talk, text or chat, 24/7, free, in over 200 languages. Dial or text 988.
Manhattan
14 listedHoly Apostles Soup Kitchen
One of the largest emergency feeding programs in the country β a hot sit-down meal, weekdays. No ID, no questions, everyone welcome.
The Bowery Mission
Hot meals daily, plus showers, clothing and beds. Serving the Lower East Side since 1879.
New York Common Pantry
Choose-your-own groceries plus the Hot Meals program. Also runs case management and help enrolling in SNAP.
West Side Campaign Against Hunger
Supermarket-style pantry β you walk the aisles and choose your own food, with dignity. Also delivers.
Xavier Mission β Welcome Table
Sunday hot meal plus a weekly food pantry and a clothing room. Volunteer-run out of St. Francis Xavier.
Broadway Community Inc.
Morningside Heights. Hot meals, food pantry, showers and social services out of Broadway Presbyterian Church.
Metro Baptist Church β Rauschenbusch Metro Ministries
Hell's Kitchen. Weekly food pantry and a clothing closet.
Henry Street Settlement
Lower East Side. Pantry plus shelter, benefits help and job programs β one of the oldest settlement houses in the country.
Food Bank For NYC β Community Kitchen of West Harlem
Hot meals and a pantry in the heart of Harlem.
Goddard Riverside Community Center
Upper West Side. Pantry, homeless outreach and one of the city's longest-running street outreach teams.
Project Renewal
Shelter, medical care and meals with a focus on people coming off the street and out of hospital. Call for current intake sites.
Church of St. Paul the Apostle β Ministry to the Homeless
Columbus Circle. Weekly meal and clothing distribution.
Chinese-American Planning Council
Food and benefits help with Mandarin and Cantonese speakers on staff. Sites in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens.
University Settlement
Lower East Side. Pantry plus mental health and family services.
Bronx
7 listedPOTS β Part of the Solution
A full front door: hot dining room, food pantry, showers, haircuts, legal clinic, medical and mail service. If you only make one Bronx stop, make it this one.
BronxWorks
Pantries, homeless outreach and benefits enrolment across the borough.
Kingsbridge Heights Community Center
Northwest Bronx. Pantry plus after-school and family programs.
Mid-Bronx Senior Citizens Council
Food and meals with a focus on older Bronx residents, but ask β they help beyond seniors.
NAICA β Neighborhood Association for Inter-Cultural Affairs
Pantry, shelter and housing help across the Bronx. Call for the current pantry site.
Thorpe Family Residence
Transitional housing for mothers and children in the Bronx. Call before travelling.
Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of New York
One number covering food, rent arrears and eviction help across the Bronx, Manhattan and Staten Island.
Brooklyn
11 listedSt. John's Bread & Life
One of Brooklyn's biggest emergency feeding programs β hot meals, a digital-choice pantry and a mobile soup kitchen van.
Bed-Stuy Campaign Against Hunger
Supermarket-style choice pantry with fresh produce, plus SNAP enrolment and a rooftop farm.
Neighbors Together
Ocean HillβBrownsville. Hot meals in a real dining room, plus an advocacy office that fights benefit cut-offs and evictions.
Masbia of Flatbush
Restaurant-style kosher soup kitchen β you are seated and served at a table. Also packs take-home groceries.
Masbia of Boro Park
Kosher hot meals and grocery packages, served with the same sit-down dignity as the Flatbush site.
CHiPS β Park Slope Christian Help
Daily hot soup kitchen plus a residence for young mothers.
Reaching-Out Community Services
Bensonhurst. Large choice pantry, home delivery for people who cannot travel.
CAMBA
Shelter, food, legal help and job training across Brooklyn.
Greenpoint Reformed Church Food Programs
Small, long-running neighbourhood pantry and soup kitchen in Greenpoint.
Southside United HDFC β Los Sures
Williamsburg. Pantry plus tenant and housing advocacy in English and Spanish.
Brooklyn Rescue Mission
Bed-Stuy. Pantry and urban farm. Call for the current distribution site.
Queens
8 listedRiver Fund New York
One of the largest pantries in Queens β long Saturday lines, huge volume, plus college and benefits help.
Masbia of Queens
Kosher sit-down meals and take-home grocery packages.
La Jornada
Flushing. Very large weekly distribution serving immigrant families; Spanish and Mandarin spoken. Check the site for the current location.
Queens Community House
Food plus housing, youth and older-adult services at sites across Queens.
Sikh Center of New York β Langar
Free hot vegetarian meal (langar) served to anyone who walks in, of any faith or none. Cover your head; shoes off.
Hour Children Food Pantry
Astoria/LIC. Pantry open to the neighbourhood, run by an organisation supporting formerly incarcerated mothers.
Elmcor Youth & Adult Activities
East Elmhurst/Corona. Food, substance-use treatment and youth programs.
Catholic Charities Brooklyn & Queens
One number for food, rent help and eviction prevention across Brooklyn and Queens.
Staten Island
4 listedProject Hospitality
The island's main front door for food, shelter, health care and recovery. Start here.
Salvation Army β Staten Island Corps
Pantry and emergency assistance. Call for the current pantry hours and site.
Meals on Wheels of Staten Island
Home-delivered meals for people who cannot get out β older adults and people who are homebound.
Community Health Action of Staten Island
Food pantry alongside harm reduction, HIV services and recovery support.
Nothing matches that. Clear the search, or call 311.
Know one we’re missing?
This list is maintained by hand and it will always be behind the street. If you know a pantry, a kitchen or a shelter that belongs here — or one on this page that has closed or moved — tell Kong and it gets fixed. 54 entries listed at present.