When you walk into the two-story Woodhaven home of Jorge Muñoz, the sweet aroma of that night’s dinner immediately assaults your senses. Looking inside, you see stacked boxes of food and kitchen supplies that one might use to cook an ordinary family dinner.
However, Muñoz is far from ordinary. The CNN Heroes Award finalist – an international honor with only 10 finalists that will be awarded on Thanksgiving Day – prepares and delivers dinner every night to more than 100 immigrant workers who line the corner of 73rd Street and Roosevelt Avenue waiting for their guardian angel to arrive.
“I have a home and food and a job,” Muñoz said one recent Sunday afternoon while he was cooking that night’s meal. “I was lucky when I got here. I was able to get a job. These men don’t have anything, and they don’t expect anything.”
More than five years ago, Muñoz, who drives a school bus for a living, was hanging out in Jackson Heights when he noticed a handful of day laborers standing on the corner waiting for work.
“These men, many illegal immigrants, would just stand around waiting for a job or someone to just help them out,” Muñoz said. “Many of them don’t even know where their next meal is coming from; some haven’t even taken a shower in weeks.”
So, Muñoz decided he was going to come back to that Jackson Heights corner and bring a hot meal to them. What began with dinner for eight people one night, quickly mushroomed into Muñoz making and delivering dinner for upwards of 120 people every night.
With the increased number of people to feed, Muñoz first solicited the help of his mother, Blanca Zapata, and his sister Luz. They helped Muñoz with the cooking, and even traveled with him to deliver the food.
Then, Muñoz turned to some friends, including Fausto and Gerardo, who were two of the day laborers living on the street who used to receive food from Muñoz. Within the past year, Muñoz took these two men into his house, and they currently live with Muñoz and help him cook and deliver food.
“He doesn’t look at where you came from; he does it from the heart,” said Fausto, a 24-year-old immigrant from Tabasco, Mexico. “He gave me a place to sleep. I’m so grateful for what he did.”
What is a typical day like for Muñoz? He wakes up at 5:30 a.m. and goes to his bus driving job where he takes home roughly $700-a-week. When he gets home at 2:30 in the afternoon, there is no relaxing or nap; instead, it is time to start preparing the food for the night.
“We use 11-12 pounds of rice a day,” Muñoz said. “Twelve to 14 pounds of vegetables get mixed in with that.” In total, the cooking process takes about two and a half hours.
Once the food is finished, Muñoz and his helpers pack the meals into Styrofoam containers, and they load them up onto his truck. Typically, they arrive at 73rd Street and Roosevelt Avenue between 8:30 and 9:30 p.m. as a crowd of hungry men has already assembled at the corner.
At the site, Muñoz makes small talk with the group of men, shaking hands and cracking some jokes during the night. No matter how many men are waiting for food, nobody leaves hungry.
“When I run out of food, I would go to the Chinese restaurants and get them food,” Muñoz said. “I call it ‘dead meat,’ but it’s better than not eating.”
Even when Muñoz lost his job for a month three years ago, he still managed to fill his refrigerator to the brim and deliver food.
“God provides,” Muñoz said.
For Muñoz, who will find out if he is the winner of the CNN Heroes Award on Thanksgiving Day, a few things have changed since he found he was a finalist. Media from all over the country have contacted him wanting to tell his story, and food and money donations have increased – something that he certainly welcomes since he spends more than $400 a week, predominantly out of his own pocket, on food.
Being one of the 10 finalists, Muñoz will take home a $25,000 prize, and the overall winner will take home an additional $100,000. However, even if Muñoz is not the grand prize winner, he promises to remain committed to his mission.
“Nothing will change,” Muñoz said. “I would just try and expand the meal program to all New York – points in Flushing, Brooklyn, anywhere that there are day laborers.”
