Seth Weissman (l.) and state Senate candidate Iggy Terranova deliver lunches to residents at Queensbridge Houses.
April 21, 2020 Staff Report
A number of real estate firms have come together to fund hot meals that are being distributed to health care workers and western Queens residents in need.
The group, which consists of 20 real estate companies, has launched the “Real Estate Has Your Back” campaign and has paid for 3,000 meals that have been distributed to healthcare workers and NYCHA residents to date—with thousands more meals to be distributed in the coming week.
Last week, the group funded 250 hot lunches prepared by Long Island City-based Neuman’s Kitchen that were delivered to residents of Queensbridge Houses. The real estate firms are working with LIC Relief, a group that was founded last month in Hunters Point in an effort to provide food for western Queens residents in need.
The real estate group will continue to fund meals that will be distributed over the the next week to NYCHA residents at Queensbridge, Ravenswood, Woodside Houses and Astoria Houses.
The real estate group was formed by Seth Weissman, the founder of Urban Standard, after he approached a number of restaurants and caterers hard hit by the shutdowns and offered to finance an effort to deliver hot meals to hospitals workers and New Yorkers in need.
Weissman then reached out to a number of real estate firms that have joined in the effort. Firms include Fisher Development, Maxim Capital and S3 Capital Partners.
“We are just getting started,” Weissman said. “In addition to sending meals to people on the front lines, we are focused on supporting small business tenants and their employees to keep as many people employed as possible during the crisis.”
The real estate group has been working with Bishop Mitchell Taylor, co-founder and CEO of Urban Upbound, and Kelly Craig and Patrick Thompson who started LIC Relief & Relief NYC to distribute the meals in western Queens.
New York State Senate candidate Iggy Terranova also worked with the group as well as Rob Basch, president of the Hunters Point Parks Conservancy.
Weissman’s #REHasYourBack has set up a GoFundMe account and is calling on other members of the the real estate community to contribute to the effort. The link to the the page is here.
