The Woodside/Sunnyside Community Covid-19 Relief Group Volunteers, (Image: Brent O’Leary)
April 22, 2020 By Michael Dorgan
A local group that provides food for Sunnyside and Woodside residents who have fallen on hard times has made an urgent appeal for donations so it can take advantage of a $10,000 matching grant.
The Woodside/Sunnyside Community Covid-19 Relief Group needs to raise cash fast, since a private organization will match all donations made to the group before April 29–up to $10,000.
The grant is being offered by the A to Z Impact Foundation, a Delaware-based organization run by Queens natives Jeff and Michael Kaplan. The organization provides grants to groups helping communities in need and decided to get involved when it heard about the Woodside/Sunnyside relief effort.
The funds will be used to provide food for residents in need, according to group founder Brent O’Leary. Many residents are struggling, he said, after losing their paycheck following the COVID-19 related business closures.
“This support will be a lifeline to many people who are unable to work and need to provide for their families,” O’Leary said.
The Woodside/Sunnyside group formed about a month ago and set up a food distribution center at the Mosaic Church Office, located at 46-01 43rd Ave. in Sunnyside as a base. Residents can go to the church office during the week and get free meals.
The group then expanded and on weekends uses Woodside on the Move’s offices at 51-23 Queens Blvd. as its base to distribute food. Residents can go there on weekends for a meal.
The group has been supplying about 300 cold packaged meals per week to those in need, according to O’Leary. About 50 of these meals are delivered to residents’ homes each week, he said.
O’Leary said that there is a growing demand for the meals. He said that if the group were to fully capitalize on the grant, it would be able to provide food for another three months.
Financial donations can be made by clicking on this link.
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