FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM NOVEMBER 5, 2020 • BUZZ • THE QUEENS COURIER 43
buzz
Queens food pantries join forces with WNBA
star Tina Charles for special food distribution
BY ANGÉLICA ACEVEDO
aacevedo@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
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.
Th e 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, aft er
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.”
Charles 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.
“Th e 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. Th e 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 onehour
pickup window between 2
to 5 p.m. on Wednesdays. Th ey
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
volunteer-led nonprofi
t 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.
“Th ey 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.
Th e 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 fi gures
like Selena Quintanilla, Frida
Kahlo and Chapulín Colorado.
“Th e 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.”
Photos by Angélica Acevedo
link
/WWW.QNS.COM
link
