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The program began last November when Rockaway residents and small business owners Robyn Hillman-Harrigan and Lillian Gerson began handing out hot coffee and tea to neighbors cleaning up storm-damaged homes. The partners in a boardwalk food cart business then enlisted the help of volunteers to deliver meals first on foot and bicycles, and then via a food truck, to residents having difficulty accessing healthy foods.
“With the transportation system disrupted and two neighborhood grocery stores still closed, healthy food options are hard to come by in the Rockaways,” Shore Soup Project Founder and Executive Director Robyn Hillman-Harrigan said in a statement.“With all the stress of fighting insurance companies and cleaning up storm damage, we can give Sandy survivors one less worry each night with a wholesome meal to put on the table.”
Clients place their orders by phone and get up to a week’s worth of free meals delivered on Monday evenings much of which is donated from local farms and gardens.
“It’s hard to believe a year has passed when you are out in these storm-damaged neighborhoods and you meet residents still struggling to get their lives back together,” said Lindsay O’Brien, who oversees AmeriCares Hurricane Sandy Relief Program.“With so many people still suffering in Sandy’s wake we are working to ensure survivors have access to medical care, counseling and other support services.”
AmeriCares is a nonprofit global health and disaster relief organization that delivers medicines, medical supplies and aid to people in need around the world and across the United States.
The Shore Soup Project is a community group that formed in the wake of Hurricane Sandy to establish a community-feeding program in the Rockaways distributing more than 50,000 free healthy meals throughout the community.
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