Pierre Hotel staff prepare meals to distribute across Queens.
Photo by Shane O’Brien
Food relief non-profit Queens Together has partnered with iconic Manhattan hotel the Pierre to provide 500 meals to schools and community-based organizations across Queens.
Vincenzo Garofalo, the Pierre’s executive chef, had previously worked with Queens Together to provide food relief during the Covid-19 pandemic when he operated Sunnyside Italian restaurant Senso Unico.
“I remember working together during the pandemic,” Garofalo said Tuesday morning. “Providing food for hospitals, people in need… I like to give.”
Garofalo approached Queens Together founder Jonathan Forgash around two weeks ago to inquire about providing 500 meals for the organization.
Forgash jumped at the opportunity, deciding to distribute 250 meals to P.S. 7Q in Elmhurst and a further 250 meals to Zone 126, an Astoria-based organization serving students at Long Island City High School, I.S. 126Q and P.S. 171Q.
Forgash distributes meals at P.S. 7Q. Photo via Queens Together
“It means a lot,” Forgash said. “That’s a lot of support to a lot of individuals who are facing food insecurity.”
Forgash distributes food at Zone 126 in Astoria. Photo via Queens Together
For now, the donation is a one-off gesture from the Pierre, but both Forgash and Garofalo hope that it will become a regular fixture.
“I’m speaking about how we can do this every month, every two months,” Garofalo said. “I’m talking to my general manager and to corporate. We are working on it. But I would really like that.”
Forgash, meanwhile, hopes that the donation will become a monthly occurance.
For Queens Together, the Pierre food drive represents a break from how the non-profit normally provides food relief.
Queens Together, which aims to both combat food relief and support local restaurants, normally pays local restaurants to provide culturally appropriate food to communities in need, simultaneously supporting communities and local businesses. Forgash said the non-profit has not done a donation drive since the Covid-19 pandemic.
“This is something we haven’t seen in a while and we are happy to see it again,” he said. “We haven’t had real food donations like this since Covid days. The Pierre Hotel worked with us during the early days of Covid to deliver unused foods from their supplies directly to some of our community groups and churches in Queens.”
Queens Together, which does not have warehouses to store food donations, enlisted the help of Queens businesses to distribute the meal packages across the borough on Tuesday, which Forgash believes exemplifies the community spirit of the Queens restaurant scene.
Seba Seba, a family-owned restaurant in Jackson Heights which also owns Elements Pizzeria and Parva bakery, donated a truck for the afternoon to aid with the distribution.
“The nature of chefs and restaurants is hospitality, caring for people,” Forgash said. “Sometimes hospitality means helping other restaurants and other groups get the work done.”
Photo via Queens Together