public health

On a chilly, wet November afternoon, residents of Syracuse’s Near Westside wait in a vacant parking lot to receive a box a free food from the Central New York Food Bank. Murmurs in Spanish, English, and other languages fill the air as residents trickle in from one of the city’s poorest neighborhoods. Many of those waiting demonstrate the struggles they’ve endured. Some are missing limbs. Others lack teeth. Some make their way to the front in wheelchairs and with canes. Others shield their children from the bitter winds under blankets.