For more than 25 years, the Common Table soup kitchen at St. George’s Church — run entirely by dedicated volunteers — provided hundreds of low-income and homeless New Yorkers with hot meals, dignity, and a welcoming place to gather. That changed when Reverend Jacob Smith imposed his own, new restrictions that barred guests from using the bathroom and forced them to eat outside — even in the winter — before ultimately shutting the program down this fall. His unilateral decision has left a critical gap in food access in Manhattan at a time when rising costs and cuts to benefits make it harder for vulnerable residents to get by. We are calling on St. George’s leadership to put compassion before bureaucracy and work with the volunteers and the broader community to restore this essential service.