One Astoria resident is directly impacting the lives of homeless women across the city by hand delivering care packages to those in need. Michael Zezima, a lifelong Astoria resident, thought about starting this project more than a year ago but officially started delivering supplies in October after a chance encounter with a homeless woman. “It came to a head this past fall in October when I was at an event in which there was leftover packaged food and I encountered a woman at the subway who was really grateful to take the food,” he said. He initially used his own money to purchase things like pads, tampons, toe warmers, hand warmers, toothbrush and tooth paste. Zezima also started a Go Fund Me page for the project, which is officially called FOR (Female-Oriented Relief). So far, he has raised $1,545 and people in the Queens 54 MARCH 2 0 1 7 community have also stepped up to donate supplies like blankets and packaged food. Zezima takes frequent trips into the city, especially places like Union Square, Midtown and Times Square to hand out supplies. He focuses on those areas because its where he sees a large and visible concentration of homeless women, he said. There are about 12 women that he visits regularly and he always has extra bags to hand out in case he sees a woman in need. He estimates that the bags have been distributed to more than 100 women. Reactions from the women vary, he said. Most are grateful and will have conversations with him but some women decline the help. “It really varies because as you might imagine they have very strong boundaries,” he said. “I’ve learned so much in that sense. There are some women that, as I inch closer, they’ll tell me straight off to get lost. There will be some women that will see me and say hi. It’s such a great feeling that I’ve done enough to earn their trust but mostly I’m giving them just a little bit of relief on this cold and windy day.” Zezima, a writer and personal trainer, has long been an activist in social justice issues and said he became disillusioned with some of the more popular tactics usually employed during justice movements. “I guess the two biggest influences for starting this project would be that as a man I’ve always felt an obligation to do what I can to give back in terms of how much privilege I have as a man and I recognize how woman on all levels face oppression,” Zezima said. To donate money or supplies, visit the project’s Go Fund Me page, https://www.gofundme. com/helping-homeless-women-innyc 2ukpuh56?utm_source=internal&utm_ medium=email&utm_content=campaign_ link_t&utm_campaign=welcome HELPING HAND Astoria resident hand delivers care packages to homeless women across the city BY ANGELA MATUA
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