By Amy Eley

Kyrie Vickers, 25, spends weekday afternoons playing with the 1-year-old boy she cares for in an Upper West Side apartment. Vickers and the boy play only blocks away from the apartment where a nanny allegedly killed two children last year.

“I think it’s affected me more than my employers, to be honest,” Vickers said. “To know that I’m in the same position that woman was in. I cannot imagine having that state of mind.”

Since nanny Yoselyn Ortega allegedly stabbed her two young charges to death on the Upper West Side last fall, parents throughout the city have been more anxious about childcare.

“The world is watching,” said Valerie Gerstein, a mother of two who runs a blog for families on the Upper West Side. “If something’s going to happen, it should be in this community.”

Ortega worked for Kevin and Marina Krim for two and a half years as a nanny, watching their three children, Lucia, Nessie and Leo. On Oct, 25, Marina came home to the family’s apartment at 57 W. 75th St. with Nessie to find her other two children dead and Ortega allegedly trying to commit suicide. Ortega survived and has since been charged with murdering the two children. She is awaiting her court hearing, scheduled for May 6.

The Jewish Community Center (JCC) is putting together a series of nanny support programs to help nannies with stresses related to the murders, their jobs and personal lives.

“As a community center, we realized we needed to create support programs for the caregivers,” Erica Werber said, the senior director of public relations at the JCC. “And make sure they know that they have access to resources if they ever needed help.”
The first class is a “Caregiver Chat” with Jean Schreiber, an early childhood educational consultant. The class is open for any nanny and is meant to serve as a support group where caregivers can discuss various aspects of the job, including ways to communicate with employers, positive discipline for children and more.

Schreiber oversees several programs at the JCC for parents, but after the Krim murders she recognized the need for nanny support.

“Caregivers are a huge part of the community here,” she said. “We are focused on them as people.”
For nannies like Kyrie Vickers, these programs come as a welcome relief. In the months since the murders, Vickers feels like parents have been scrutinizing nannies.

Jenna Crandall, a mother of three, agrees that nannies have been watched more closely. Crandall encourages other mothers to use hidden nanny cameras in the home and has asked friends to watch how her nanny interacts with Crandall’s kids at the park.

“She didn’t know they were my friends but they would look out and watch,” Crandall said. “It makes you second guess your own nanny and what could happen.”

One Upper East Side mother, who asked her name be withheld, decided to put her child in daycare rather and leave her alone at home with a nanny. “I interviewed nannies but never felt comfortable,” she said.
Nanny agencies throughout the city have been helping soothe parents’ anxieties since the Krim murders. Joan Friedman, co-owner of A Choice Nanny, remembers one mother in particular who expressed nervousness over the decision to hire a nanny.

“She said, “I know this is a silly question, but in light of the tragedy, I just want to hear again what you do,”” said Friedman.

Vanessa Wauchope, founder and president of nanny agency Sensible Sitters, oversees one family that makes home visits to their nanny routinely to maintain a pulse on her personal life.

“They really want to know what’s going on,” said Wauchope. “In a situation where someone is being brought into your home, parents want to go that extra mile.”

For Blake Levine, this meant running her own background checks on nanny applicants for her two-year-old daughter.

“Some people do hire background investigators,” she said. “There’s no way to prevent what happened to the Krim family other than trying to find the best people. You hope that will suffice.”

At 8:30 a.m. on a recent Saturday in Harlem, a man stood near the Antioch Church of God in Christ’s painted red steps, shouting a new number every few minutes. “Fifty-one!”

A crowd outside the church talked among themselves quietly, filling the air with clouds of breath in the cool temperatures, continually listening with one ear for their number to be called. “Fifty-two!”
“The earlier you come, the better stuff you get,” Eugenio Prado explained. “You come later, you get leftovers. But you always get something.”

The Antioch Church’s Outreach Program is one of 99 food pantries in Manhattan, according to Food Bank NYC. With the most recent 2011 Census Bureau figures showing an increase in the number of people living below poverty level in New York City, from 20.1 percent to 20.9 percent, food pantries like Antioch Outreach are seeing larger crowds gathering for assistance.

Antioch Outreach’s organizer, Peggy Allen, says that the program typically serves between 240 and 250 people each Saturday. On this Saturday, however, the Outreach served 296.

“The numbers have increased,” said Allen. “It’s so busy that it’s difficult.”

Though food is not served until 8:30 a.m., Allen sees a line already forming when she arrives at the Outreach at 6 a.m.

“I rely on this,” said Prado, who has come to the pantry every Saturday for the past six months.
Antioch Outreach offers cereal, milk, juice, canned goods, pasta, vegetables and various other products to clients on a weekly basis. Allen explains that food is supplied by the New York City Food Bank as well as through grants. On this particular Saturday, fresh chicken and ham were available—a rarity, Allen said.

“I was so sure we had enough for everybody,” said Allen. “But we did run short, maybe 25 people.”
Clients said they are still pleased with the food. “You want canned foods? Take the chicken tuna,” suggests Prado. “It’s soft. It’s rich. I don’t know how they do that.” Prado said he has difficulty working due to diabetes and psychiatric ailments. He currently lives with his parents in Harlem.
The food given out at Antioch Outreach feeds more mouths than those seen on a Saturday morning. Due to his diabetes, Prado says he often gives away items he receives that he can’t eat. Hassan Stevens, who has been visiting the pantry every weekend for the past two years, said he does the same thing.

“If there is pork, I give it away,” said Stevens, a practicing Muslim who is unemployed and looking for work in maintenance.

The Outreach also serves as a social time for community members who stop by. Mike Evans comes to the pantry from time to time on his Saturday mornings, although he doesn’t hold a number. “Somebody else needs it better than I do,” he said.