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Queens Opens Its Hearts: Supplies, Housing, Aid All Given Freely
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| Crowds in Rufus King Park in Jamaica gathered supplies to haul down to Louisiana. Tribune photo by Karlene Hamilton
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By Andrew Moesel
Although the floodwaters in New Orleans are beginning to recede, the ripples from the disaster have just begun to reach the people of Queens.
Borough residents, businesses and officials are beginning to reach out to help the massive relief effort under way in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. With winds and high waters robbing many people of literally all their worldly possessions, there exists a massive need for every possible resource, from canned goods to permanent housing.
New Yorkers, still under the shadow of Sept. 11, have found lots of ways to give back to the other citizens who aided them during their worst hour.
Supplies
Queens residents have been incredibly generous in donating items that will be used to feed, clothe and comfort those that have been left with nothing.
The Stop & Shop supermarket on Grand Avenue in Maspeth, which has been participating in a chain-wide drive to gather food and water, collected $5,400 worth of merchandise in the first two days of the initiative, the second most of any location in the country, according to spokesperson Peter Hamilton.
Carletta Cantres, an assistant manager at the store, said the donated supplies have filled four large watermelon bins, some of which had to put in the back because the mounds of cans, cereal and bottled water were taking up too much room.
“People in the community have been very willing to give,” she said.
While the store was only accepting food and cash donations, shoppers were asking employees where they could also give clothing and other goods, Cantres said.
All funds collected from the drive will go to the American Red Cross and America’s Second Harvest—The Nation’s Food Bank Network.
In addition to these large relief agencies, many individuals in Queens are taking matters into their own hands by raising money or gathering supplies by themselves or through smaller organizations.
Neh Jane, who lives in the Bronx but works in Astoria, has been going door-to-door asking people to give anything available, receiving mostly canned goods and monetary donations. Her collections will be distributed through a group called the Grassroots Artists Movement, which plans to take two large trucks filled with the goods to survivors in Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas.
Jane said she and her group were spurred on to become involved in the relief effort after it became clear in their mind that federal authorities were not doing enough to help those hurt by the disaster.
“At first people were just like, ‘All right, people would take care of it,’” Jane said. “But then people were dying and stuck in the same places for days. It seemed like the government was not doing anything, and we need to do something about it.”
The group will also hold a concert this Friday at Hunter College, featuring Brand Nubian and Ashanti, with all proceeds going to hurricane relief.
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| A woman donates an entire bag of groceries to the needy at Maspeth’s Stop&Shop. Tribune photo by Ira Cohen
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Housing
Tens of thousands of people were left homeless by Hurricane Katrina as the violent storm tore down houses and flooding caused the evacuation of New Orleans. Many people returned briefly this week after fleeing the hurricane only to find their former dwellings a pile of lumber and debris.
In response to the huge demand for temporary and permanent housing, residents of more than 30 states have been filling vacant apartments, summer homes or their own bedrooms with displaced southerners. While far from the Gulf Coast, several Queens residents have offered to take in hurricane victims, posting ads on quickly constructed Web sites designed to match potential families with charitable homeowners.
Nearly 20 such listings for Queens are available on craigslist.com. Borough leaders are also attempting to organize an effort to bring up to 50 families to be sheltered in Queens, the Daily News reported.
Marneen Zahavi of Flushing, who posted a listing on katrinahousing.org, has opened up her two-bedroom home in East Stroudsburg, PA. She has offered six months free rent—in addition to free utilities, furniture and food—and also has been searching for a used car to help with the family’s transportation.
“I’m not sure it is possible for any American to not feel the need. I have my own financial difficulties at this time, but my god, imagine walking out of your home, turning around and it’s all gone,” Zahavi said. “The only thing left is the clothes on your back. They need it.”
Housing would likely be the most difficult thing for evacuees to receive, Zahavi said, and therefore she thought it would be the best way to help. To date, she has not met a family for her home, but has a list of people waiting to donate items when the time comes.
The Munirs
While New York politicians have been organizing relief effort here in the city and calling for more aid from other government agencies, some have had experience helping hurricane evacuees firsthand.
Last week the Munir family, a couple with a small daughter, made the long journey from New Orleans to Jackson Heights in search of a family friend. But after arriving in Queens, the family found it difficult to locate their friend and began to worry.
At that moment, State Sen. John Sabini (D-Jackson Heights) just happened to notice the family sitting in their New Orleans cab, which caught his eye as he walked down the street to a colleague’s funeral. Sabini began to organize a network of support to help the struggling family, and over the past week, thanks to help from a number of individuals and organizations, their situation has continued to improve.
The American Red Cross gave the family a small, one-time cash payment, arranged temporary housing for a week, and helped pay for the family’s prescription medication. A New York cab company called Team System Corp., based in Long Island City, offered to pay for Mr. Munir’s training and will likely give him a job. He could start working as early as this week.
The Munir’s trek may have inspired others to try to similar move. Another former New Orleans cab driver, Yasir Kahn, saw a news story about the Munir family broadcast on a CBS station in Houston, Texas, where he had sough refuge after the storm. Originally from Brooklyn, Kahn contacted Sabini’s office and was then referred to Councilman Bill de Blasio, who has agreed to arrange similar help for his family.
How To Donate
City Information Line. Citizens can call 311 and get information about a variety of organizations where they get donate aid.
Red Cross. Donations can be made directly to the Red Cross online at its Web site, www.redcross.org.
JFK Rotary Club. People attending the U.S. Open can give money to volunteers at the Flushing Meadows venue in connection with Borough President Helen Marshall’s office.
Queens County Savings Bank. The bank will accept donations for the Red Cross at any one of it’s branches all over the borough, and at all 141 New York Community Bank branches in the Metropolitan area.
Comptroller’s office. Donations can be dropped off weekdays between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. at the Comptroller’s Office of Community Relations, located at 1 Centre Street, Room 1330. For more information, call the OCR at (212) 669-3089.
CarePlus Health Plan. Donated items may be dropped off at Queens Borough Hall, Room 225, 120-55 Queens Blvd. and will be given to the charitable organization Amerigroup in Texas. For more information, call (718) 286-2949. |
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