8 THE QUEENS COURIER • OCTOBER 15, 2020 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
Elmhurst rally includes free meals for
community in eff ort to battle hunger
BY DEAN MOSES
AND ROBERT POZARYCKI
editorial@qns.com
@QNS
Th e COVID-19 pandemic only exacerbated
New York City’s food insecurity
problem — and with so many residents
lacking proper nutrition, several Queens
groups decided to serve a Sunday meal to
residents in need.
Th e “Rally for Food Justice” on Oct.
11 not only fed individuals from around
Elmhurst and Jackson Heights but also
called to attention to the growing hunger
problem in the country, as well as the new
network of community refrigerators popping
up on street corners that aim to help
give the hungry something good to eat
free of charge.
Th e event brought out scores of residents
who received free, vegan
meals provided by the organizers
outside of Moore
Playground, located across
the street from Elmhurst
Hospital. Residents
also received snacks,
water, hand sanitizer
and masks from
a “people’s bodega”
set up during the
rally.
As Trasonia Abbott
of Queens Liberation
put it, the event
off ered a chance to
give back to a community
in need. She also
highlighted the problem
of food waste
across America.
“America has so much
food. All the time, there’s so
much food in this country, and
we throw it in the trash,”Abbott said. “Every
day, so much food gets made, and then tossed
in the trash, and coff ee is poured over it so
homeless people won’t get into the trash to eat
it. Th at’s f—ed up. So, we are giving away free
food. … But any chance you get, you should
give what you have back to the community.”
Th e organizers, in a press release, condemned
governmental inaction in helping
to bridge the food gap in New York.
Several COVID-19 relief bills which could
pour billions of dollars in new fi nancial
aid to New Yorkers in need have stalled in
the Senate. Th e city’s emergency food program,
organizers claim, has proven to be
inadequate to the current need.
Dannelly Rodriguez of Housing Justice
4 All touched upon the disparity in his
remarks.
“It’s been us coming together using the
resources that we have aft er we had a government
that has actively denied us the
resources that we’ve needed over the years
and especially during COVID,”Rodriguez
said. “So, distributing this food isn’t charity,
y’all. Th is is mutual aid, and mutual
aid is political. When we live in a system
that is racist … that puts rich people at
the center of our policy, it’s up to us to put
our resources together and feed our people,
because nobody else is going to do it.”
As people have struggled with food
insecurity during the pandemic, organizations
have begun setting up community
refrigerators. Abbott said they are a critical
exchange point in the battle against
hunger.
Photo by Dean Moses
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