Partnering with the Latino Pastoral Action Center to Serve Their Community
By Thomas Bakos
As Feed the Frontlines NYC marks its one-year anniversary, it also celebrates its fourth full month of partnership with the Latino Pastoral Action Center (LPAC) to provide hot meals to community members experiencing food insecurity in the surrounding Mount Eden/Highbridge area of the Bronx. To date, Feed the Frontlines and LPAC have provided 6,900 hot meals from local restaurants to families in need thanks to Samvid Ventures’ Community Resilience Prize and ongoing contributions from generous New Yorkers.
When the pandemic first brought economic slowdowns and unemployment to Mount Eden and Highbridge, LPAC immediately recognized the need to offer community-based relief. In a quick, collective effort, LPAC began working with its community to provide meal deliveries to families and local workers impacted most by the pandemic. Throughout spring, summer, and into early autumn, LPAC’s food relief became an integral part of daily life for its community. At the time, many of the primary beneficiaries of LPAC’s meal plans were young mothers; by serving as a consistent food source, LPAC became a lifeline to them and their children.
By October, however, the funding for these urgent food relief programs began to wane. Throughout New York, while the necessity to combat food insecurity persisted, the support systems and funding required to do so did not. In the Bronx, as funding dwindled, LPAC’s consistent meal delivery source was cut off. Recipients of their food relief programs were notified that the steady distribution of meals they relied on would be halted in the wake of funding shortages.
Eager to provide continued food relief to those who needed it most in their neighborhood, Susana Rivera Leon, CEO of LPAC, reached out to Feed the Frontlines about the dire need to continue the Bronx-based meal delivery program. Feed the Frontlines NYC immediately offered its support.
Shortly after this initial conversation, Isabella Di Pietro, co-founder of Feed the Frontlines, was alerted to a unique grant opportunity: Samvid Ventures’ Community Resilience Prize. Hoping to secure immediate funding, Feed the Frontlines applied for the Community Resilience Prize to support LPAC’s meal delivery program. Unlike the typically lengthy grant application process, Samvid Ventures recognized the need for immediate food assistance and within a week granted Feed the Frontlines $25,000 to partner with LPAC.
Immediately, Feed the Frontlines and LPAC worked to reinstate the meal delivery plans to serve the communities of Mount Eden. In the beginning of January, they rolled out a five-week program, during which Feed the Frontlines provided 500 meals each week to the Latino Pastoral Action Center. Feed the Frontlines NYC worked with Bronx-based restaurants to provide hearty, delicious meals to New Yorkers through LPAC. On Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, local families relied upon the distribution of restaurant-quality dishes at LPAC.
Throughout the initial five-week program, LPAC extended volunteer opportunities to young individuals working to complete their community service requirements as an alternative to traditional forms of punishment. While Feed the Frontlines and LPAC organized food relief, volunteers’ meal distributions became integral to ensuring that food relief reached those who needed it. In doing so, community members were given the opportunities to work off their service requirements, which - because of the scarcity of volunteer opportunities during this pandemic - has been increasingly difficult. On March 27th, food distributions also began taking place on Saturdays to include participants in NYC Youth WRAP, the City’s program for teens and young adults on probation.
All the while, LPAC staff members felt the benefits of their three-day-a-week deliveries. With the regular community interactions and collaboration that their new project facilitated, the staff at LPAC were able to intimately work with their community in ways that the new COVID-19, sometimes socially isolating work environment, had not previously enabled. “This program has changed this community,” said LPAC CEO Susana Rivera Leon. Not only has each meal kept underserved communities and families fed during these uncertain times, but each delivery has furthered the sense of camaraderie and community central to LPAC’s mission.
Likewise, in its partnership with LPAC, Feed the Frontlines, too, has stayed true to a key part of its mission: supporting local restaurants and bringing New Yorkers back to work amidst the severe financial uncertainty wrought by pandemic-related shutdowns and the subsequent decline of indoor dining. Maria Abreu, manager at participating restaurant Georgina, said the program has been “tremendously helpful, especially for the staff.” Georgina has been able to offer more hours to their six employees as a direct result of meal orders for LPAC, which have also allowed them to catch up on other bill payments. New Adventure restaurant owner Rafael Blanco was able to bring all five of his employees back full-time as a direct result of the program. María Guadalupe, owner of Los Sazones, told us “ha sido ayuda caída del cielo” (“this support has fallen from heaven”). She was able to give work to an additional staff member, pay back rent, and repair one of their lights. Participating restaurant partners expressed how crucial the consistency and reliability of these meal orders has been for them and their staff.
Feed the Frontlines NYC’s collaboration with the Latino Pastoral Action Center has united communities across the city to urgently and swiftly act to keep New Yorkers fed and their restaurants open, serving as one more great example of what New Yorkers can accomplish in the face of adversity.
To support our ongoing efforts alongside LPAC, please consider contributing to our anniversary fundraiser here.
Thomas Bakos is a volunteer for Feed the Frontlines NYC. He is a junior at the Bronx High School of Science from the Upper West Side. As an active member of his school’s speech and debate team, he is passionate about journalism, local politics, and social issues.
