In the days leading up to the Thanksgiving holiday, Councilman Francisco Moya joined unions and community partners to provide more than 2,500 families in his district with turkeys and other food items including fresh produce.
Moya’s five-event-series of Thanksgiving food distributions were hosted together with the East Elmhurst Corona Civic Association, First Baptist Church, Iconic Sports Lab and the LeFrak City Tenants Association.
“We are still recovering from COVID-19 and while we’ve made a lot of progress, we need to continue to fight food insecurity, support healthier communities and provide families with resources to help them get back on their feet,” Moya said. “I am incredibly grateful to all our partners, community leaders as well as my brothers and sisters from the Laborers Local 79, Laborers’ Local Union 1010 LECET, and the New York City District Council of Carpenters & Carpenter Contractor Alliance of Metropolitan, for their continued generosity to the more than 2,500 families in District 21. This is New York City solidarity at its best as we approach the Thanksgiving holiday.”
As part of the funds Moya designated to fight food insecurity and support healthier communities, families also received food boxes from Met Council and fresh produce as part of the GrowNYC-Health Bucks initiative during the food distributions in Corona.
“As New Yorkers recover from the pandemic, our members continue to show their resilience by lending a helping hand to families in need where we live and work every day,” NYC District Council of Carpenters Executive Secretary-Treasurer Joseph Geiger said. “Queens is home to so many of our members throughout the District Council, and we are grateful to be able to bring warm Thanksgiving meals to those in need in the community. This Thanksgiving remains a difficult time for many, and we hope that together we were able to bring warm meals to households across Queens.”
Moya and is team kicked off the series of distributions on Saturday, Nov. 20, with two events in East Elmhurst, followed by the Fourth Annual Iconic Thanksgiving Drive at Park of the Americas on Sunday, Nov. 21, and later with two events on Monday, Nov. 22, at LeFrak City and his Corona District Office.
“Our union members and signatory contractors know the hard work required to put food on the table and are humbled to partner with the Council member to help local families in that effort by providing turkeys,” Laborers’ Local 1010 LECET Director Victor Rizzo said. “Taking care of each other is a central building block of both strong unions and strong communities.”
Mike Prohaska, business manager of Laborers Local 79, agreed.
“Many families are still working to recover from the pandemic and our Local 79 members are always grateful for what we have and be able to give back,” Prohaska said. “We are thankful to partner with Councilman Moya who continues to fight alongside Local 79 members for New Yorkers to ensure as many families as possible have food for the Thanksgiving holiday.”
