A community locker created for needy families was vandalized on New Year’s Day and left outside the district office of Senator Jessica Ramos in Queens State. It comes at a time when the residents have more food security.
“It really hurts that someone would do that,” a tearful Ramos told Gothamist / WNYC.
After Ramos posted photos of the fridge’s leftovers on Twitter on Saturday – his fresh food and freezer doors tore open – an outpouring of support came her way, with donations of $ 6,000 already generated within hours.
The community closet outside our district office was vandalized and destroyed last night. So many of our neighbors depend on the generosity of other neighbors to get through these difficult times. Now this lifeline is gone. I’m sad. pic.twitter.com/NACU1M5hI5
– Jessica Ramos (@jessicaramos) 2 January 2021
Since July, the General Electric refrigerator – the surface of which has been repainted by local artist named Khan – has been erected outside Ramos’ district office on Junction Boulevard in East Elmhurst and made available to thousands of residents looking for free eggs, fruit and vegetables and baby -formula. to feed their families.
To maintain the well-equipped refrigerator, Ramos relied on donations to keep the refrigerator full, which often empties within hours. Ramos’ office borders the community of Corona, home to undocumented immigrants disregarded by the federal government.
“They do not qualify for unemployment insurance, they did not get a stimulus test, they are not going to get a new stimulus test. And so for many families, that’s literally all they have,” Ramos said. “That’s how they squeeze cents to save rent every month.”
Community closets became commonplace throughout the city as the pandemic led to major layoffs, increasing food security nationwide. Currently, about 1.5 million New Yorkers cannot buy food. A recent report by the Robin Hood Foundation found that 32% of adults surveyed in September and October 2020 had used a food pantry in the past year, an increase of more than 250% compared to January and February 2020.
And yet, despite these refrigerators serving as lifeline, these have been targets for vandalism in the past. In Far Rockaway, a communal refrigerator created by Rockaway Mutual Aid on Beach 91st Street was found destroyed during the summer.
It is still unclear who vandalized the refrigerator outside Ramos’ office. Ramos asks police to retrieve footage from security cameras to help identify any culprit responsible for the vandalism.
“Whoever did that, I would think, would have bad karma,” Ramos said.
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