Goodwill has food pantries. Maybe you’re confusing their outlet stores where donations are sold. Not sure where you’re getting the idea that food pantries are operated on such a limited basis. The theoretical time from from the op is 4 days.
This although a couple local ERs will make a fast call to one of the local shelters or groups to see if they can find someone who can help. Four days just isn’t long enough to put you into medical distress unless there is something more involved that the OP doesn’t mention.
He could go to the ER and tell them he is feeling suicidal, they should admit him to the mental ward of the hospital and hold him for up to a week.
Goodwill IN SOME PLACES has food pantries. Each of the regional Goodwill organizations (there’s something like 150 in North America) is completely independent group that makes its own decisions concerning what programs and services it offers, and only a handful choose to operate food pantries. The Goodwill in my area (Western Missouri and Eastern Kansas) for example offers a range of employment services, including sheltered employment, job training, job readiness, job search, and so forth, but they don’t do food and operate no food pantries.
I’m not sure where the OP is located and what services might be available in that locale. If it is New York City, then I’m reasonably confidant that there are food banks open all day every day. There’s not in my town, and yes, here it would be possible to have a four-day stretch in which none of the food banks are open or have food available (not necessarily likely–it would require a holiday falling on an inconvenient day, or one of the food banks running out–but possible). I know of one Kansas town where the food bank is open only twice a month (1st Monday and 3rd Thursday, last I heard), although if you’ve got a food emergency at other times of the month you can contact the pastor at the Methodist church who will try to call the lady who runs the food bank.
I think it’s a great idea to refer people to places that might be able to help, but assuring somebody that a given charity WILL be able to help or DOES offer such-and-such a service is not helpful unless you are absolutely certain that the service really is offered in whichever town is relevant. Yes, Goodwill has food pantries, except in all of the places where they have other services but not food. In some towns the Salvation Army has a food pantry with regular hours; in other locations, they operate a soup kitchen but no pantry, still other places have both, and a few Salvation Army outposts will try to meet individual needs but have no regularly scheduled food programs at all.
Thanks for the comments… it was easier to help him when I still lived in NYC. Now, I live in another state…