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April 17-April 23, 2020
HELPING OUR HEROES
Queens residents organize fundraiser to support healthcare workers
Vol. 29 No. 16 24 total pages
BY CARLOTTA MOHAMED
Whitestone residents are
working together to support
healthcare providers on the
frontlines during the coronavirus
pandemic.
A GoFundMe campaign initiated
by Karra Puccia aims to
raise funds for meals and hospital
supplies for healthcare workers
in need.
Puccia is joined by Laura Copersino
of The Daniel Copersino
Foundation, Alfredo Centola of
We Love Whitestone Civic Association,
Jessica Baeza and Karishma
Rahman Azmat.
Their goal is to raise a total
of $10,000. To date, they have collectively
raised $8,000 from generous
donors. They are working
with local restaurants to help
support them during the pandemic,
and coordinating logistics
of deliveries to medical staff
throughout Queens, Manhattan
and Long Island.
Some of the local restaurants
that have stepped up to provide
quality meals at a discounted
price include Bagel Parlor,
Frankys Gyro, Liola, Concettina,
Villagio, Nana’s Good Eats,
The Clinton and more.
For Puccia, it’s been an
Medical staff at Plainview Hospital receive a dinner delivery from Karra Puccia, who began a GoFundMe campaign to help healthcare
workers on the frontlines of the coronavirus pandemic. Courtesy of Karra Puccia
“amazing experience” watching
the fundraising grow, she
said. She began the fundraising
effort with her brother, Kraig
Puccia, on March 20.
“To see it balloon into a
community effort has been really
nice,” Puccia said. “We are
stronger together.”
Puccia has been making
some of the deliveries to NewYork
Presbyterian Queens Hospital
and Fort Totten, which is
serving as the headquarters
for ambulances and EMTs that
have come to help from around
the country.
“The FDNY is overburdened
and to see those EMTs come
in on ambulances with license
plates from all over the country
— Colorado, Arkansas, Tennessee
and Minnesota — left me so
grateful for their service to our
suffering city. I thought those
brave men and women are New
Yorkers today,” Puccia said.
For Azmat, it’s been a privilege
coordinating with a group
of kind, proactive and passionate
citizen-leaders to help serve
their frontline heroes, she said.
“My family has been focusing
our efforts for meal-drops
for the Elmhurst Hospital ER
staff particularly, and have
been proud to support efforts
across the Queens Hospital
system,” Azmat said. “The
world seems dark sometimes,
we’re all working to light
candles together.”
/QNS.COM
