WWW.QNS.COM RIDGEWOOD TIMES APRIL 16, 2020 19
include 1,700 meals to hospitals and 100
meals for essential workers (fi remen
and educators at Regional Enrichment
Centers). They’ve also distributed 100
food boxes at Astoria Houses, and will
be expanding on that eff ort in coming
weeks.
The next step is to expand their
operation to serve food pantries and
other vulnerable communities, including
seniors and people out of work.
Queens Together also helped kickstart
a western Queens local business
source map, Who’s Open??, which
tracks businesses in the area and their
operation details.
For more information or to donate,
visit www.queenstogether.org.
LA JORNADA
La Jornada has served hundreds
of thousands of immigrant families
in Flushing for more than four years
— but Pedro Rodriguez, the director
of the volunteer-led food pantry, has
never witnessed the current need.
“The rising unemployment rate,
closing stores and supermarkets
has created a tsunami of people,”
Rodriguez said in Spanish. “Before,
women would make up 70 to 80 percent
of the food pickup line, but we’re
seeing more and more men making
the line, about 40 to 50 percent. You
can feel their frustration and hurt.
They’ve worked all their lives and
now …”
La Jornada found a permanent
home at the Bland Houses, located
at 133-36 Roosevelt Ave. (building
four), after St. George’s Episcopal
Church in Flushing ended their
partnership to run their own pantry
in 2019. Their first day in their new
home was Sunday, March 15 — the
day before New York state directed
all nonessential workers to work
from home.
Since then, they’ve served more
than 5,000 people. Instead of working
only once a week as they originally
set out to do, they’re working
six days a week, with a variation of
services each day.
On Mondays, Tuesdays and
Wednesdays, they distribute lunch
as well as deliver groceries to seniors
and disabled individuals; Thursdays
are designated for Bland Housing
residents; Fridays are senior days
(60 and older); and on Saturdays, they
distribute food until they run out to
anyone and everyone in Queens.
For Rodriguez, it’s both a miracle
and a blessing that his volunteers
haven’t contracted COVID-19. He
credits Assemblywoman Catalina
Cruz, Senator Jessica Ramos and
Congresswoman Grace Meng for
providing them with face masks and
other supplies to protect themselves
and the people they serve.
They also maintain a strict six feet
between everyone in line and inform
everyone to wear masks.
Although Mayor Bill de Blasio and
Speaker Corey Johnson announced
they’re allocating $25 million in
emergency funding for food providers
across NYC on Friday, April 10,
Rodriguez thinks that isn’t nearly
enough.
“That won’t even reach the weekend,”
Rodriguez said. “Have they not
seen the unemployment numbers?
Do they understand people are going
hungry in this city?”
Rodriguez always felt serving
food came from the heart, and that
feeling remains, especially now.
“God prepared us for what we’re facing,”
he said.
For the most up-to-date information,
follow La Jornada on Facebook at
www.facebook.com/LaJornadany.
HUNGRY MONK
Hungry Monk, an NYC-based
homeless outreach and community
response vehicle, is on its third year
of serving those living with food
insecurity in Queens. The entirely
volunteer-led organization has been
out in Queens on a daily basis for a
little over a month, and have distributed
approximately 250,000 pounds
of food.
“We’ve been able to work with a
phenomenal group of people who
are committed to doing this,” said
Hungry Monk’s Executive Director
Mike Lopez.
Longtime and new volunteers
have helped expand their efforts by
working more than 12-hour days to
rescue, sort and distribute food.
They also opened a food pantry,
located at 68-59 60th Ln. in Ridgewood,
which is open on Tuesdays,
Thursdays and Saturdays from 10
a.m. to 2 p.m. They operate their food
outreach on Cypress and Myrtle avenues
in Ridgewood on Saturdays at
11:30 a.m.
Those who have been hospitalized
and sent home in the greater community
of Ridgewood, Glendale, Maspeth,
Middle Village and Bushwick
can also call their joint Mutual Aid
initiative with Woodbine for emergency
food pantry deliveries.
Hungry Monk serves an average
of 300 meals on a daily basis. They
usually served about 200 families,
but are now up to 1,600 families.
Hungry Monk recently partnered
with Congresswoman Alexandria
Ocasio-Cortez to launch a full-scale
fundraising effort, which resulted
in them working together to provide
pantry bags to four housing communities
in District 14, including
LeFrak City in Corona.
Lopez emphasizes the importance
of obtaining funds from elected
officials so they can continue to
directly impact the lives of Queens
residents.
“The need will be steady and will
be staying as it is at least for the next
six to eight weeks,” Father Lopez said.
“It’s fiscally impossible to maintain
our operation, but we’re exhausting
all the resources we can.”
For more information or to donate,
visit www.hungrymonkrescuetruck.
org.
Photos courtesy of Hungry Monk
WOODBINE
Woodbine, Ridgewood’s volunteerrun
experimental hub, has a variety of
COVID-19 resources and services for
the Ridgewood community, including
a food pantry as well as the Mutual Aid
initiative they run in collaboration with
Hungry Monk.
Woodbine runs their food distribution
outside of their space, located at 1882
Woodbine St. in Ridgewood, on Wednesdays
and Fridays at 10 a.m. They focus on
providing fresh produce while Hungry
Monk provides dry and canned food.
Their selection of food, which they
source locally, will change every day
and week. For instance, their fi rst pickup
bags on Friday, March 27 each had potatoes,
caulifl ower, kale, basil, bread, two
boxed salads, green sauce, banana bread
with walnuts and a dark chocolate Kind
bar.
Their Mutual Aid also highlights the
local information and resources that
the community may need, including
the names and contact information of
Ridgewood’s elected offi cials.
Woodbine is calling for Gov. Andrew
Cuomo to cancel rent.
“We started talking to a lot of our
neighbors and one of the big things
we’ve heard is that many people aren’t
working,” Matt Peterson, an organizer
at Woodbine, told QNS in March. “Lots of
New Yorkers live paycheck to paycheck
and this has been going on for two to
three weeks now. We saw there’s a lot of
other relief like eviction and mortgage
moratorium, but Cuomo left rent a bit
vague.”
For more information or to donate, visit
www.woodbine.nyc.
ACTS OF KINDNESS
fighting food insecurity in Queens
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/LaJornadany
/www.hungrymonkrescuetruck
/www.woodbine.nyc
/www.queenstogether.org
/www.queenstogether.org
/LaJornadany
/www.hungrymonkrescuetruck
/www.woodbine.nyc
