Photo Courtesy of the Office of the Queens Borough President
“Fuel the Frontlines” meals prepared by Treat Yourself Jerk Chicken destined for the staff at Jamaica Hospital Medical Center.
By Forum Staff
“Fuel the Frontlines,” the joint initiative started by a coalition of the Queens Borough President’s Office, the Queens Economic Development Corporation, and the Queens Night Market to provide thousands of ready-to-go, individually-packaged “home-cooked” meals to hospital and now EMS workers on the frontlines of battling the COVID-19 pandemic, has been extended two more weeks, acting Borough President Sharon Lee announced Thursday.
The initiative was launched on March 29. According to Lee, donations to the initiative will allow it to run an additional two weeks through Friday, April 17; and expands the meal deliveries to seven EMS stations across Queens to feed the borough’s first responders. EMS workers have been overburdened in recent weeks by significant staffing shortages and a record high volume of 911 calls—reportedly more than 6,000 per day at times over the course of the public health crisis.
In the initiative’s first week (March 29 through April 3), 2,000 meals were cooked and packaged by 12 local food-service companies and delivered to frontline workers across Queens’ nine hospitals. The meals are packaged in individual containers, to be kept refrigerated to be heated and eaten at the workers’ convenience.
Lee noted that in the days since the March 29 launch, “Fuel the Frontlines” has raised more than $20,000, with donations ranging from $5 to $4,000.
“Every minute counts, and in this race against time, Queens thanks the partners who helped make this two-week extension of ‘Fuel the Frontlines’ possible here in the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic,” Lee said. “Our hearts are with the brave healthcare workers who are moving mountains around the clock with every single tool and resource available to save lives, as well as the workers and small business entrepreneurs struggling but who fuel Queens. We continue to welcome support for these efforts to stem the tide and bend the curves of this unprecedented public health and economic crisis.”
During the extension to April 17, packaged meals will continue to be prepared by small businesses either enrolled in QEDC’s innovative Entrepreneur Space commercial kitchen incubator in Long Island City or vendors that participate in the seasonal Queens Night Market in Flushing Meadows Corona Park—some of which will continue to prepare meals at Kommissary, a commercial kitchen in LIC. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey will continue to transport many of the meals to the hospitals and EMS stations. And both QEDC and the Queens Night Market will continue to waive any administrative costs associated with “Fuel the Frontlines” for participating small businesses.
“Our vendors have really answered the call to action, and we’ve had vendors representing Ethiopia, Poland, Jamaica, Malaysia, Antigua, Mexico and Korea — just to name a few — with many more to come with this very welcome expansion of the initiative,” said Queens Night Market founder John Wang. “We’re eager to help feed the essential workers risking their lives for all our safety, while also providing a modest but important source of income for numerous small businesses during this crisis.”
