Two Queens food pantries team up with WNBA
star Tina Charles for special food distribution
Photo by Angélica Acevedo
TIMESLEDGER | QNS.COM | NOV. 6-NOV. 12, 2020 31
BY ANGÉLICA ACEVEDO
La Jornada and Together
We Can Food Pantry at Queens
Museum hosted a special food
distribution and served approximately
700 Corona families
on Wednesday, Oct. 28.
The day began with a diaper
and food distribution,
prior to the weekly food pantry
distribution. Women’s National
Basketball Association
player Tina Charles donated
$4,000 worth of diapers to the
food pantry through her organization
Hopey’s Heart Foundation,
after approaching Assemblywoman
Catalina Cruz
to ask how she could help.
“I saw Assemblywoman
Cruz on MSNBC and she was
showing what she does in her
food pantry, and I noticed she
was in Corona, Queens, and
I grew up taking the Q72, being
on Junction Boulevard
to go to high school, my mom
used to shop on Junction,” said
Charles, who was born and
raised in East Elmhurst. “I
reached out to her on how I can
help and double her impact,
she connected me with Ms.
Shannon of Together We Can,
and we were able to curate so
I could donate for the food pantry.
”C
harles said it was important
to serve the community
where she grew up, which was
one of the disproportionately
hard hit communities in New
York City during the height of
the pandemic.
“It’s full circle, I grew up
coming here for the ice skating
rink back in the day before it
was Queens Museum, so it’s
just full circle that I’m able to
give back, especially during
COVID,” said Charles.
Charles assisted in the distribution,
which also featured
face painting, Halloween costumes,
a Street Lab station
for children to play in while
waiting in line and a table of
personal protective equipment
and resource assistance from
the Hispanic Federation.
Cruz, who dressed up as
Mary Poppins, greeted her
constituents and distributed
candy to families in line for
the food pantry. Cruz said they
were thrilled to have Charles
join them.
“The reality is that we’re
seven months out from the
beginning of the pandemic,
but we’re nowhere near the
end of the real crisis, the real
economic, food, health crisis
that’s been exacerbated by this
pandemic, and so any time we
have the opportunity to team
up with an organization or a
fellow elected, to be able to provide
food, we’re going to take
it,” said Cruz.
Cruz ran a food pantry for
months, but it has come to
and end as the nonprofit she
partnered with, World Central
Kitchen, a national organization
created by Chef José Andrés,
ran out of funds to serve
New York.
“It’s key for our community,
for the people that have a
little bit extra to give, to reach
out to organizations like Together
We Can and La Jornada
to give, because unfortunately
our federal government failed
us miserably at a time that we
needed them,” said Cruz. “All
we have is each other to depend
on right now. The more
we’re supporting each other,
the faster we’ll hopefully get
through the other side of this.”
La Jornada and Together
We Can Food Pantry at Queens
Museum was established in
June to serve the immediate
community. Participation in
the food pantry is by advance
registration, who are assigned
a one-hour pickup window between
2 to 5 p.m. on Wednesdays.
They distribute a week’s
worth of fresh and nonperishable
food items to families and
households in need.
All the food distributed
at the pantry is secured by
La Jornada, one of the city’s
hunger-relief organizations
located in Flushing, while Together
We Can, a volunteerled
nonprofit that services the
residents of Jackson Heights,
Elmhurst and Corona, helps
recruit volunteers.
To date, the Queens Museum
has fed more than 9,650
families in Corona.
Gianina Enriquez, community
organizer at the Queens
Museum, said the majority of
their volunteers also live in
Corona.
“They help the same community
they belong to,” said
Enriquez.
Rosas del Tepeyac, a Mexican
folklore dance group for
mothers and daughters, not
only volunteered to help with
the distribution, but also created
a traditional Day of the
Dead altar.
The altar, meant to remember
family, friends and loved
ones who have passed away,
featured images of the group’s
own loved ones as well as popular
Mexican figures like Selena
Quintanilla, Frida Kahlo
and Chapulín Colorado.
“The altar is for our deceased,
our deceased are never
forgotten, we have the belief
that they come to visit us every
year,” said Esmeralda Gonzalez,
a member of Rosas del
Tepeyac.”It’s a beautiful Mexican
tradition, and we’re happy
because we can pass it down to
our daughters.”
Given the food insecurity
that has escalated since the
pandemic began, and the recent
change to the USDA’s Coronavirus
Food Assistance program
— which momentarily
impacted La Jornada’s ability
to work with certain vendors
to obtain food — the Queens
Museum hopes to scale up to
serve the community.
“Since the Queens Museum
began hosting a food distribution
initiative in June, the food
pantry service has been a tremendous
success, feeding and
caring for thousands of Queens
residents and their families,”
said Sally Tallant, president
and executive director of the
Queens Museum. “In the
wake of the recent changes in
the federal Coronavirus Food
Assistance Program reducing
food supplies to pantries
in Queens right now, Queens
Museum is hoping to be able
to continue this essential service
to the community as it is
a proven lifeline for those who
are enduring food insecurity
and homelessness due to the
pandemic.”
/QNS.COM
