FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM APRIL 30, 2020 • THE QUEENS COURIER 23
gratitude
Hungry Monk launches fundraiser to continue
feeding Queens’ most vulnerable communities
BY ANGÉLICA ACEVEDO
aacevedo@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
Hungry Monk, a Ridgewood-based
homeless outreach and community
response vehicle, launched an emergency
fundraiser in order to maintain their vital
food services in Queens.
“We’re looking to raise funds so that we
can continue the work we’ve begun. We’ve
dedicated ourselves to continue doing
this work as long as we could,” Father
Mike Lopez, executive director of
Hungry Monk, said in their fundraising
Commerce Realty Group, John’s Pizza team
up to donate food to health care workers
BY BENJAMIN MANDILE
editorial@qns.com
@QNS
Commerce Realty Group and John’s
Pizza came together to bring a slice of
relief to workers at Queens Hospital
Center during lunch on Monday.
Th e two local institutions delivered 40
pizza pies to workers at the hospital,
which is currently in the fi ght against the
COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to the
40 pies of classic New York pizza to stave
off hunger at lunch, another 40 pies are
expected to be delivered for the night shift
on Tuesday at the local medical center due
to an outpouring of New York pride on
social media.
Once Commerce Realty Group’s
Instagram followers got wind of what the
local business was up to, another 40 pies
of pizza were sponsored by others online
wanting to help.
Th e initiative formed to help feed the
frontline workers, but also to help local
small businesses as unemployment in the
U.S. continues to rise.
“During these times it’s important
we bring together our local institutions,
like Queens Hospital Center, John’s
Pizza and Commerce Realty Group,” said
Jacob Ashkenazie, a representative of
Commerce Realty Group. “And what better
way to do it than over a slice of classic
New York pizza.”
Th e pies were delivered with caution
in mind and were delivered at the doors
of the medical center to keep both the
donors and hospital staff safe.
Talks of further community service are
in the works as representatives of the realty
group consider further acts of kindness
Courtesy of Commerce Realty Group
next month including the possibility of a
food drive at its offi ce.
video.
Hungry Monk has served homeless
individuals and vulnerable Queens families
since 2017. But on March 10, they
began their emergency mode, converting
their space at Covenant Lutheran Church,
located at 68-59 60th Ln. in Ridgewood,
into a full scale food pantry to begin providing
daily meals for the community
amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Th e entirely volunteer-led team is out
on the streets distributing food around
Queens seven days a week, 12 hours a
day. To date, they’ve provided more than
250,000 pounds of food. By the end of
March, they fed more than 10,000
families with children, seniors, people
experiencing homelessness.
But the $60,000 Hungry Monk
had in their budget for the year —
allocated by elected offi cials — was
gone in less than a month.
“Our food pantry resources are
almost all dried up,” Hungry Monk
wrote in a press release. “If they
d r y up, there are no
restaurants that
we can fall back
on to ask for left -
overs. Th e 10,000
families we’ve served so far through
the food pantry will not get supplies,
and people will go hungry immediately.
Th ere is no buff er zone.”
Th ey are currently distributing
fresh and dry goods at Covenant
Lutheran Church on Tuesdays,
Th ursdays and Saturdays at 10
a.m. Th ey also operate their regular
Saturday food outreach at
Ridgewood Veterans Triangle at
Myrtle and Cypress at 11 a.m. Hungry
Monk has partnered with several community
organizations, including Woodbine,
Th e Rock Church in Elmhurst, Our Lady
of Mount Carmel in Astoria, NYCHA’s
Bedford Stuyvesant Family Health Center
in Brooklyn, Woodside Houses, NYCHA’s
Cooper Park Houses in Brooklyn and
NYCHA’s Th roggs Neck Houses in the
Bronx.
Th ey’re also off ering bed programs for
individuals experiencing homelessness at
the Ridgewood Abbey, Elmhurst Abbey
and St. James Abbey. Hungry Monk is also
providing home deliveries to discharged
patients from Wyckoff Heights Medical
Center in Brooklyn, as well as those currently
experiencing coronavirus symptoms,
the immunocompromised, and the
elderly who live in the greater community
of Ridgewood, Glendale, Maspeth,
Middle Village and Bushwick.
Recently, Hungry Monk partnered
with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to
provide pantry bags to her constituency
in District 14, including Corona,
Elmhurst, Woodside and the Bronx.
Ocasio-Cortez said that these volunteers
are on the frontlines like others, and
need the economic support to not only
continue to feed those who need it, but
also to secure personal protective equipment
for themselves.
“Th ese volunteers that are stepping up
and putting themselves at risk. Th ey’re
trying to do that to prevent the alternative,
which would be hundreds of people
waiting in a crowded line in front of
a food pantry,” Ocasio-Cortez said during
a virtual town hall. “Because at the end of
the day, our community needs to eat. A
lot of our families that we’ve been hearing
from say they’re reducing the amount
of meals they’re taking per day because
they’re scared and don’t have the resources
now that people have been out of work
for several weeks.”
Mayor Bill de Blasio and Speaker Corey
Johnson previously pledged $25 million,
and the city later rolled out a $170 million
plan to combat the ever-growing hunger
crisis.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced April
27 that the state will allocate $25 million
in emergency funding for food banks, and
will launch a Nourish New York initiative,
as food banks across the state see a surge
in demand (NYC’s food banks have seen
a 100 percent surge alone).
But Hungry Monk said they haven’t
received any additional money from the
Mayor or city. Th erefore, their goal is to
raise $100,000 to restock their pantry, so
they’ll be able to operate for at least another
month.
To donate, visit www.secure.actblue.
com/donate/hungrymonk or their website
at www.hungrymonkrescuetruck.org.
“We need to maintain our pantry for
the community, but our resources have
been depleted,” Hungry Monk wrote in a
press release. “Th e initial wave of restaurant
donations has dried up, but we need
to be able to keep rescuing and distributing
food for those in need. In addition to
bulk purchases of fresh produce and dry
goods, we have been renting supplemental
vehicles for delivery, paying for gas,
insurance, space rental and other operating
expenses.”
Photo courtesy
of Hungry
Monk
/WWW.QNS.COM
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/www.secure.actblue
/www.hungrymonkrescuetruck.org
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/www.hungrymonkrescuetruck.org
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