Queens Together and the Dominico-American Society of Queens (DASQ) joined forces with El Gauchito and La Pequeña Colombia restaurants to serve warm meals and distribute USDA food boxes to 100 families in Corona on Tuesday, March 16.
Queens Together, a grassroots restaurant and food advocacy organization, delivered 375 USDA food boxes — which were donated by North Brooklyn Angels in Williamsburg — filled with produce, dairy and meat products for families and individuals in need of food aid.
Queens Together and DASQ have been at the forefront of feeding the most vulnerable New Yorkers since COVID-19 brought the city to a standstill one year ago and led to the highest unemployment rate since the great recession in 2007, leaving many New Yorkers to seek help from food pantries.
Jonathan Forgash, co-founder and executive director of Queens Together, which has distributed 50,000 meals and grocery bags since the onset of the pandemic, noted that the pop-up food drive was a grassroots effort.
Forgash reached out to Ralph Trionfo, a wine and liquor distributor and Corona native, to figure out where to hold the pop-up food drive to distribute the food boxes he received from North Brooklyn Angels. Trionfo connected him with José Tejada, the executive director of DASQ in Corona, one of the neighborhoods hardest hit by the pandemic.
While mothers with their young children, seniors, men and women stood in a line that spanned around the block, Tejada shared that his organization has supported the community with food drives since April 2020. He said that the situation was dire since they were at the “epicenter of the epicenter” of the pandemic.
“We have people in the community who are working low-paying jobs and we have multiple generations living together. It was very hard. Many, many people also work in the hospitality industry that was hit the worst, so there is a lot of unemployment,” Tejada explained.
Trionfo also got Jack Daniels and Turquoise Life on board to help sponsor the restaurant meals prepared by El Gauchito and La Pequeña. He said both restaurants were his childhood “go-to” places for Argentinian and Colombian food.
While he didn’t disclose the amount the companies donated, he said that he was happy with the results. The restaurants delivered 50 warm meals each — El Gauchito made Argentinian steak, rice and beans, and La Pequeña Colombia made chicken wings and vegetables.
For Trionfo, who has been working with Forgash and Tejada throughout the pandemic, the food drives are a “win, win, win” situation.
“So not only are we supporting the hospitality industry with the restaurants that stayed open throughout COVID, they’re [also] working with their community, which are their customers,” Trionfo said. “We’re supporting everybody, and I think that Jose has a great outreach program and Jonathan with Queens Together has all these pallets of food to give out to my neighbors. It’s a great thing.”
Somnath Ghimire, president of the GP Koirala Foundation America in Woodside, came with five volunteers to help with food distribution. He stressed the importance of working with and supporting other organizations during this challenging time.
GP Koirala has distributed more than 55,000 meals since April 2020, Ghimire said. He’s concerned that the USDA food donations might expire soon.
“We desperately need food for people in every community,” Ghimire said. “It has never been like this in my 26 years in Queens. So, this is very sad. We are trying our best.”
Despite the catastrophic impact of the pandemic, Forgash also saw the silver lining.
“It’s been a devastating year for people, for businesses, for families. But the most amazing thing for me, personally, as a human being, has been to see the community in action,” he said. “Thats the power of community. I know it’s a terrible time, but it’s really uplifting. No politics, no real organizing, just people being either given an opportunity or asking how they can help.”
