Queens Chamber Businesses of the Week
Dear Friends of the Queens Chamber of Commerce;
After working hard from the confines of our home offices and fielding so many calls from all over Queens, the Staff of the Queen Chamber decided to choose 5 businesses to feature each week who are all doing great things during this surreal time. If you know of a business going above and beyond that you want considered, kindly email us at info@queenschamber.org for consideration. Thanks!
USTA – The USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Queens hosts hundreds of thousands of tennis fans each year. This year they’re doing their part to help New Yorkers during the COVID19 pandemic.
New York City’s Emergency Management office coordinated with the USTA to transform indoor courts into supplemental hospital space for patients dealing with COVID19.
Louis Armstrong Stadium, the second-largest stadium on the grounds, has also been used be to prepare and distribute meals for patients, workers and underprivileged school children.
The temporary hospital is now closed and crews are getting the Tennis Center ready to open for indoor business when they can.
For more info on the USTA go to https://www.usta.com/
Boy Scouts of America Greater New York Council: Queens: - Queens Boys Scouts serve over 11,000 youths across the borough, teaching them a variety of life skills. One of these skills recently saved a local young man’s life.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/14/us/teenager-cardiac-arrest-coronavirus-illness-trnd/index.html
Learn more about the Boy Scouts of America Greater New York Council – Queens at https://nycscouting.org/queens/
Hour Children - A proud member of the Queens Chamber of Commerce, Hour Children (www.hourchildren.org) has provided practical and compassionate support to women and children impacted by incarceration since 1986. For the past ten years, our community food pantry has also been a steady source of help to the people of Queens. Operating out of the parking lot of Saint Rita’s Church (36-49 11th Street, Long Island City), Hour Children Community Food Pantry makes fresh produce and non-perishable foods available at no cost three days a week.
Prior to the COVID-19 shutdown of businesses of and schools, the pantry would typically serve 250 people a week. In the past two months, we have seen that number spike to over 650.
The need has never been greater. Resources are limited, but Hour Children remains committed to being present to their neighbors in need. The pantry is open: Monday, 2 – 4 PM; Tuesday, 10:30 AM -12:30 PM; and Thursday, 3 – 5 PM. There is no need to pre-register and identification is not required. For further information, call 718-482-8226. Also, visit their website at www. https://hourchildren.org/our-food-pantry/; and Facebook pages at https://www.facebook.com/HourChildrenCommunityOutreach; and https://www.facebook.com/HourChildrenInc?ref=hl.
La Adelita de Woodside - Maria Iglesias and her daughter Cynthia of La Adelita de Woodside and Corazón De Mexico Restaurant & Bar have donated 200 sweet breads a day to pantries in Sunnyside/Woodside these past few weeks. They represent what small business means to so many in Queens—new beginnings, creative, grassroots entrepreneurship, and most of all, community.
Chef María Iglesias, with more than 20 years of experience in the hospitality industry said it brings her a lot of joy to help those in a difficult situation today. "All we ask is people to share the information”.
Updated information is always posted on the social media of La Adelita de Woodside and Corazón De Mexico Restaurant & Bar.
5321 Roosevelt Ave (4.98 mi) Woodside, New York 11377 www.laadelitanyc.com https://www.facebook.com/LaAdelitanyc/
Meal to Heal - In New York City, a group of Filipinos in the Little Manila neighborhood of Woodside, Queens, is taking care of their own during the pandemic. Their mutual aid initiative, called "Meal to Heal," is bringing free meals to hospitals and health facilities heavily staffed by Filipinos — while also raising funds to help Filipino restaurants struggling because of the stay-home order.
People of Filipino descent play an outsize role in the US health care workforce. They’re 1% of the US population, but comprise 7% of health workers. Because so many Filipino Americans are on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic, it has taken a devastating and outsize toll on their community.
One of the Meal to Heal cofounders is Jaclyn Reyes, a US-born artist of Filipino descent. She and another Filipina American artist, Xenia Diente, work on community art projects in Little Manila.
“You can't talk to any Filipino in New York who doesn't know a nurse or a health care worker,” said Reyes, whose own mother immigrated from the Philippines to work as a nurse in California.
Learn more about Meal to Heal at https://www.facebook.com/meal2healnyc/?epa=SEARCH_BOX
http://mealtoheal.bayanihan.nyc