City Harvest volunteers packed over 13,000 ears of sweet corns into family-sized bags to be distributed to hundreds of partnering food pantries and soup kitchens across the five boroughs on Tuesday.

The group was joined by actor and producer Karen Pittman and TV personality and host Tayshia Adams to help pack the food. Pittman told News 12 that family has been personality impacted by food insecurity in the past.

"I would encourage any new yorker who is thinking I want to get involved, i want to make a difference, this is a place to start,” said Pittman. “City Harvest does a great job of welcoming people in, giving you a great orientation so you know what to do, what to expect, and you do a great job helping your local community."

City Harvest told News 12 currently in the city, 50% of households cannot meet their basic financial needs.

"A staggering number of New Yorkers, doing all the right things, going to work, kids are at school, have a home, it's just a very expensive city and food is viewed as an elastic expense,” said City Harvest CEO Jilly Stephens. “You can't not pay your utility bill, but you can decide to not go to a supermarket and go to a food pantry instead."

The organization acknowledged children are visiting food pantries nearly 70% more compared to 2019.