14 THE QUEENS COURIER • MAY 7, 2020 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
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Photo courtesy of Japneet Singh
Japneet Singh (third from left) with medical staff at Jamaica Hospital
S. Ozone Park Sikh community member
delivers pizza pies to frontline workers
BY CARLOTTA MOHAMED
cmohamed@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
While quarantined in his South Ozone
Park home, 25-year-old Japneet Singh was
fi guring out diff erent ways to give back to
healthcare workers and other essential personnel
St. John’s Episcopal Hospital celebrates its health care workers
St. John’s Episcopal Hospital celebrated
its health care workers on National
Superheroes Day with lunch and a
round of applause
that lasted
an hour
and a half.
Th e Far Rockaway hospital’s senior management
and executives lined up around
the hospital’s main entrance, while observing
social distancing guidelines, and began
to clap at 7 a.m., on Tuesday, April 28.
“It’s been a rough two months,” said
Jerry Walsh, CEO of St. John’s Episcopal.
Speaking to his staff , Walsh said, “you are
the true heroes, and as we recognize you
on National Superheroes Day, know that
we appreciate each and every one of you
every day all year round.”
Several elected offi cials and a group of
costumed superheroes joined the celebration
to honor the healthcare workers who
have been working in an area hit particularly
hard by the COVID-19 outbreak.
“Th e health care workers clocking in
every day to our hospitals and health
centers are nothing short of heroes,”
said Congressman Gregory Meeks. “Our
nation owes them all a bottomless debt of
gratitude and a great deal more for their
bravery and self-sacrifi ce.”
Councilmen Donovan Richards
and Eric Ulrich were also at St. John’s
Episcopal to celebrate frontline workers.
“As healthcare workers, you are the true
heroes. Each day you risk your lives to
save others,” Richards said.
“Our offi ce is doing everything we can
to support the dedicated medical professionals
on the front lines of this crisis. Th is
was just another opportunity to show our
support,” Ulrich said.
on the front lines of the coronavirus
pandemic.
“I thought maybe I could donate supplies
of personal protective equipment to
hospitals, but aft er contacting a few vendors,
they were out of stock,” Singh said.
It wasn’t until Singh saw an Instagram
post from a friend who works at Elmhurst
Hospital and simply asked the question,
“What is there we can do to help or at least
show appreciation?”
“I then asked him, ‘What if we donated
some pizza?’” Singh said. “Who says no
to pizza, at least here in New York? Since
I knew this would be out-of-pocket and
it was the most aff ordable thing to do, he
helped me organize through the nursing
department to deliver the pizzas.” Singh
made his fi rst delivery of 20 pizza pies to
Elmhurst Hospital on March 31.
His initiative took off aft er posting on
social media receiving wide support from
friends, which then resulted in the creation
of a GoFundMe account to raise money to
purchase more pizzas at a discounted price
from Papa John’s.
So far, Singh and his friends have made
deliveries to Jamaica Hospital, Northwell
Health Long Island Jewish Hospital and
Kings County Hospital in Brooklyn.
“Th ere were some hospitals getting more
love than others, and when we went to
Kings County, people were amazed saying,
‘We are always forgotten,’” Singh said.
“Aft er that, we thought about the grocery
store workers, the folks working at
Walmart, police precincts and FDNY stations.”
Singh also delivered small personal pizza
pies to the homeless population at Jamaica
Center. A 2018 alum of CUNY Queens
College, Singh is embodying the school’s
motto: “We learn so that we may serve.”
Aft er graduating from Queens College,
where he served as student body president
for two years, Singh became engaged
in local politics becoming a member of
Community Board 10 — which covers
Howard Beach, Ozone Park, South Ozone
Park, South Richmond Hill, Lindenwood
and Rockwood Park. He received a proclamation
from Councilman Rory Lancman
and the Queens Delegation for his contribution
to the community.
“Most of us are fi rst-generation college
grads — mostly from immigrant families
— and we want to make a diff erence in
the community, and I think what we learn
in CUNY and the humbling backgrounds
we have gives us the mindset to do that,”
Singh said.
He is also a member of the Sikh
Coalition, a nonprofi t organization working
to protect Sikh civil liberties across the
United States, while also highlighting the
religion and positive work of Sikhs worldwide.
In June 2019, Singh founded the New
York Sikh Council to create a platform for
the youth. Its mission is to spread love,
peace and unity, as well as raise awareness
of Sikhs within the diverse communities
of New York.
As faith communities join together to
help each other during the coronavirus crisis,
Singh said, hopefully they can continue
the momentum aft er the pandemic is over.
“When it comes to bringing faiths
together, New York City does a great job in
doing that, and we have so many programs
geared towards everyone — culture, race,
gender, identity,” Japneet said. “In times of
need people of all faiths are coming together
and helping out their brothers and sisters
next door, and that’s going to defi ne
what this pandemic’s history is going to be.
It’s really going to depend on how unifi ed
we are once this is done.”
Photo courtesy of St. John’s Episcopal Hospital.
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