WWW.4 OCTOBER 8, 2020 RIDGEWOOD TIMES QNS.COM
Maspeth Miss New York organizes walk
to donate hygiene products to homeless
collected donations from friends and
family.
In the end, the donations amounted
to more than she anticipated.
“I sent out an Amazon wishlist and
spread it across my social media,”
Ramos said. “I apparently made
this so easy for everybody because
within a week, I had boxes and boxes
and boxes of hygiene products just
showing up at my house.”
So far, she’s organized about 150
packs of hygiene products to hand
out.
In order to distribute the supplies,
Ramos had to get creative, as some
pantries and shelters weren’t accepting
donations like before due to
COVID-19 regulations.
She decided the best way to
distribute the items would be by
creating groups to walk the streets
of Manhattan with her.
Ramos tapped friends Brittany
Ramos and Pamela Denkiewicz to
help her distribute products weeks
ago, but still has more to go.
Photo courtesy of Roseann
Ramos
“While we did hand out a lot of
them, there was a ton of homeless in
the city and I couldn’t hit them all.
And then when I got all of these donations,
I wanted to get these out to as
many people as possible, but asked
myself how do I do that?” she said. “It
was like 8 a.m., I was driving to work,
and I came up with the idea to send
separate teams to Manhattan.”
Ramos and her friends are creating
groups to help with the task,
and are still looking for volunteers.
Those interested in helping can
reach out to her via Instagram: @
missny_qcoth.
In the last few months, homeless
people across New York City have
faced mixed messages from city officials
and disparaging comments
from community members — particularly
as it pertains to homeless
shelters in the Upper West Side.
But Ramos said people often forget
homeless people are just people.
“They still have feelings, dreams,
hopes and they want to accomplish
something,” she said. “Most times
when I’m doing these walks, one of the
most asked questions is, ‘Do you know
where can I fi nd a job?’ or ‘Do you know
who’s hiring?’ or ‘Do you know where
I can go to get shelter or food?’ They’re
really just asking for basic needs, they
want to provide for themselves. So
I think there is an assumption that
people choose to be homeless, and
that’s simply not the case.”
Ramos hopes to continue this work,
and is already prepping for her annual
winter clothing drive as well.
“The homeless community is really
fantastic because if they see
you handing out something, they’ll
actually let everybody else that they
know is in need know,” Ramos said.
“They’re a really tight knit community,
and not a lot of people know
that.”
BY ANGÉLICA ACEVEDO
AACEVEDO@SCHNEPSMEDIA.COM
@QNS
Roseann Ramos has been volunteering
to help the homeless for
many years now — but this year,
she had to switch it up a bit due to the
ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Ramos, who is also the reigning
Miss New York for the fairly new
Queens City of the Hudson pageant,
created Project H4H out of a desire
to provide hygiene products to
homeless people.
“It actually stems from a co-worker
of mine who passed away,” Ramos
said. “Every year on his birthday,
he would walk the streets of New
York with his old clothes or things
that he didn’t need anymore and give
them to those who needed them. So
to memorialize him on his birthday,
his family asked us to come and
join. My two friends and I, my two
co-workers who then became lifelong
friends, kind of jumped at this
opportunity.”
The 25-year-old, who is currently
studying social work at York College, Photo courtesy of Roseann Ramos
The Ridgewood Property Owners
& Civic Assn
CONGRATULATES
EDWARD
R GRAYSON
On his appointment as
Acting Sanitation Commissioner
City of New York
• A longtime resident of Ridgewood
• Educated in all Ridgewood
public schools:
PS 88 Elementary • IS 77 Intermediate
• Grover Cleveland HS
RPOCA members: your RPOCA newsletter will be mailed to you
this month. For membership questions, or local civic problems,
please call Paul Kerzner, RPOCA Counsel @ 917 439 5242 ©
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