March 22, 2020 Your Neighborhood — Your News®
LOCAL
CL ASSIFIEDS
PAGE 11
Volunteers organize emergency food distribution
campaign in Flushing amid coronavirus crisis
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
Photo courtesy of the Greater Flushing Chamber of Commerce
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 and longterm
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 12 p.m.
to 9 p.m. and Saturdays from 9
a.m. to 12 p.m. 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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