David Speciner’s time helping the Food Bank for NYC starts well before he gets to the nonprofit’s Harlem pantry.
The first step is putting together a bag of bags at his home in Washington Heights.
“They don’t realize how much food we’re giving them and they don’t have the means to carry it home,” he said. “So we provide that.”Ā Ā
Speciner has been volunteering with the Food Bank for four years. The nonprofit supplied more than 90 million pounds of food to soup kitchens, schools and more just last year.
“It’s not that there isn’t enough food to go around,” he said. “It’s a crisis of distribution.”Ā
“I have the time. It’s not a heavy lift,” Speciner added.
He credits his parents for his dedication to helping others. Speciner’s father was involved in democratic politics, and his mother was on the school board.
“Service has always been a part of my, my, my DNA,” he said. “And now that I have the time, it’s only natural that that I do what I do.”Ā Ā
Speciner was one of the first volunteers to sign up at the Food Bank when pandemic restrictions lifted.
“I walked into this place and there were a group of people who were absolutely dedicated to their mission, who were welcoming, who were warm,” he said.
Speciner was hooked and eager to make an even bigger impact.
“When there was a small child who had a frown on his face because he’s been on line with his mother for two hours, a little stuffed animal would arrive for him and it would brighten the day,” he said.Ā Ā
He assembled a group of neighbors and Girl Scouts to put together “kits for kindness,” with toiletries and other essentials. Speciner assists with lunch service and game time a couple times a month at the Food Bank’s older adult center.
On paper, he has dedicated more than 750 hours to the organization.
“He’s always kind of just going that extra mile to go be on that volunteer shift,” said Nicole Harrison, the director of volunteer engagement at the Food Bank for NYC.
It’s an extra mile Speciner insists isn’t that complicated.
“If you boil it down to one thing, it’s helping people feed their families,” he said.
For cooking up new ways to help others, David Speciner is our New Yorker of the Week.
