Community groups and leaders will come together in Flushing to provide a festive meal to those in need this holiday season.
Organized by the Greater Flushing Chamber of Commerce, the Annual Holiday Community Meal will take place on Christmas Eve at St. George’s Church. Volunteers at the event will provide 300 hot holiday meals to those less fortunate.
Danny’s Steakhouse & Oyster Bar in College Point will cook the meals. Restaurateurs Danny Lye and Ivy Zheng said the event was an important way to give back to the community.
“I hope more business owners will join us in celebrating the spirit of Christmas and help donate food in the future, so we can feed more people,” Lye said.
A team of volunteers from a number of local civic groups, including the Flushing Interfaith Council, the Hindu Temple Society, the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Queens and La Jornada, will help make the event possible.
According to advocacy group Hunger Free America, 40 percent of the food pantries and soup kitchens in New York City didn’t have enough food to meet the demand in 2017. Pedro Rodriguez, founder of the Flushing-based La Jornada food pantry, said the organization has seen “an incredible increase” in the number of people it serves.
“For the past four years, La Jornada has been serving immigrants and those who are poor in Flushing,” he said. “It is so good to see our own chamber of commerce joining us in this fight against hunger and poverty in our community.”
Those interested in volunteering at the event may still do so through the Facebook event page.
The event will take place on Sunday, Dec. 24, from 3 to 5 p.m. at St. George’s Church, located at 135-32 38th Ave.
