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March 27-Apr. 2, 2020
HELPING HANDS
Volunteers organize emergency food distribution campaign in Flushing
Photo courtesy of the Greater Flushing Chamber of Commerce
Vol. 29 No. 13 36 total pages
BY CARLOTTA MOHAMED
Flushing community organizations
are proactively
organizing an outreach campaign
to contact local residents,
including homebound
individuals, who may need
emergency food assistance
ahead of a possible city lockdown
this week.
Volunteers from the
Greater Flushing Chamber of
Commerce, Kissena Synergy,
Mel for Progress, Flushing
Interfaith Council, and other
community organizations
received a delivery of packaged
food items March 18 at
the La Jornada food pantry
at the Bland Houses Community
Center, located at 133-36
Roosevelt Ave.
The La Jornada food pantry
will act as an emergency
food distribution center during
the coronavirus crisis.
“In this period of the
COVID-19 crisis in NYC, the
elderly and the disabled are
our neighbors who face the
most food insecurity in our
community,” said Taehoon
Kim, president of the Greater
Flushing Chamber of Commerce.
“I stand with La Jornada
and other volunteers to
deliver food to those in need
around Flushing in case of a
shelter-in-place policy going
into effect.”
The city that never sleeps
could be shutting down in 48
hours as Mayor Bill de Blasio
announced Tuesday that he
was considering whether to
impose a shelter-in-place order,
which would essentially
require residents to stay in
their homes and limit outside
social contact to a minimum
to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
Shweta Parmar, an
ayurvedic eastern medicine
practitioner at GutsierLiving,
said the current COVID-19
pandemic not only reveals the
ongoing challenges of hunger
and availability of quality,
healthy food in the immigrant
community, but also deeply
highlights the government’s
unjust social and health inequalities
and lack of preparedness
for short-term and
long-term solutions.
“Beyond the virus, we are
witnessing a social disease.
As economic instability rises
at this time, so does poverty,
hunger, physical, mental, emotional
and spiritual diseases
for individuals, families and
the community,” Parmar said.
“It is essential to address the
basic human right of access to
food, fuel for life! Volunteers
are filling this void.”
John Choe, executive director
of the Greater Flushing
Chamber of Commerce,
added, “Our community won’t
let our friends and neighbors
fend for themselves. We’re
here to help and together. We
will survive.”
In preparation for the possible
city shutdown, volunteers
will be using a Google
Form to collect information,
including the name, address,
phone number and language
spoken by the individuals
needing assistance. The information
will be used to schedule
appointments for delivery
of emergency food supplies
by other volunteers who will
walk, bike, or drive to the individuals
needing assistance.
“We’re proud to serve our
community at this critical
moment. Our volunteers will
continue providing emergency
food assistance even if our
city is locked down,” said Pedro
Rodriguez, executive director
of the La Jornada Food
Pantry. “However, in order to
sustain this critical service,
we need volunteers and money.
Please help us help our
community.”
Food distribution at the
site is currently scheduled for
Thursdays and Fridays from
noon to 9 p.m. and Saturdays
from 9 a.m. to noon. To reduce
safety risks associated with
crowding during distribution,
advanced registration is
required at pedrolajornada@
gmail.com or call 917-880-
5693.
Anyone interested in
volunteering can apply via
Google Form.
Reach reporter Carlotta
Mohamed by e-mail at cmohamed@
schnepsmedia.com or
by phone at (718) 260–4526.
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