The Sheldon Silver Food Donation on Essex Street

Photo: Lori Greenberg

Yesterday afternoon, we stumbled upon a rather large food dump at the southwest corner of Essex and Broome Streets. Roughly two dozen boxes of non-perishables were discarded outside the Eisner Brothers store, accompanied by a sign announcing that the goods were free of charge. If the announcement is to be believed, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver was behind the charitable action, imploring constituents to “please take home.”

Photo: Lori Greenberg

This is where some of that classic New York cynicism comes into play. Seems quite odd that Silver would leave the food on this random street corner rather than donate to Hurricane Sandy relief (e.g. Bowery Mission). Guess this was a more direct, hyperlocal method to help those in need.

Photo: Lori Greenberg

Nevertheless, the selection of groceries was actually upscale for what it was, and most certainly popular with the locals. Much of the organic canned tomatoes, soy and almond milk, natural chips, and Panda natural licorice was gone within a short few-hour time window.