The River Fund’s food charity efforts stand apart

QUEENS STRONG

River Fund scales up to the pandemic

by Max Parrott of Queens County. At first he began warehouse storage facilities and airAssociate Editor baking cookies for people with HIV, ports. Wherever food accumulates,

While the food insecurity of the then making sandwiches to give out and needs to be vented out of the COVID crisis has spurred the creto folks in need, and just never system, River Fund is able to collabation of mutual aid groups and food stopped expanding. orate with the businesses to take it distributions across the city, in “And one thing led to another, and off their hands. It gets the rest of its Queens one provider stands out paying attention to what’s happenfood from the government. among the rest. ing, we built this,” he said, gesturing “Unless you can accept vast

The Richmond Hill-based River to the queue of people lining the quantities of food, certain types of Fund, a nonprofit whose mission is block around the house during a Satdonors can’t operate with you,” said to fight hunger, homelessness and urday distribution on July 18. Starzman. poverty across New York City, disDurga Das lives and breathes the For example, the group works tributed 5.2 million pounds of groRiver Fund program. He resides in with dairies in upstate New York and ceries in the first 16 weeks of its the attic of the navy Queen AnneMassachusetts, which can only COVID operations. style cottage house that he converted donate to organizations that have the

How did it accomplish this feat? into an office, food warehouse and capacity to receive an entire truckSheer logistics capacity. reception area for New York’s needy load and refrigerated space to hold it.

Most of the organizations over the years. “Not everybody wants necessarily involved in emergency food distriDuring last Saturday’s food distrithe jalapeño-flavored peanut butter, bution in the city are smaller. Some bution, the nonprofit’s most popular but the amount that’s needed to make are attached to churches, or buildday, pallets full of food boxes it available in New York is less than ings that don’t have the kind of stacked 6 feet high lined the sidewhat’s shipped, so they need to get space to fit wholesaler-sized hauls walk, and a line of people waiting for rid of it somewhere,” Starzman said. of food. River Fund, on the other groceries stretched for nearly a half New York City disposes of about hand, which has been focused on mile around the sur rounding 5 billion pounds of perfectly good, food distribution for 28 years, corneighborhood. pre-consumer groceries per year, Pallets of food line the block around the River Fund’s Richmond Hill location ners a unique part of New York’s The organization would not have said Starzman. Over the years, River on its food distribution days. PHOTOS BY MAX PARROTT supply chain. It is as much a food been able to scale up to its current Fund figured out that it could pull in warehouse as it is a pantry. capacity with just the house alone. a large slice of that overflow if it distributing through its own sites, it’s through word of mouth.

The group’s capacity has helped Starzman said that its other location, committed to storage space. also giving to other food distribution When people got laid off from it step up to fight the extreme spike a warehouse next to the Brooklyn Why are manufacturers willing to organizations in the community. their jobs at the outset of the panin food instability during the crisis. Navy Yard, is the key to its ability to give huge amounts of food away for To keep the nonprofit going, it demic and their unemployment Whereas it previously had one food handle vast amounts of dry refrigerfree? It goes back to the tax code. If staffs 22 people full-time, four peobenefits hadn’t started coming in distribution day per week when ated and frozen foods. they throw away food because it’s ple part-time, and enlists a large volyet, River Fund’s clientele began they would give about 1,000 resiOn average, River Fund receives not selling, they get to then write off unteer workforce to help on food disto spike. dents groceries for the week, duraround 250 pallets of groceries in its that loss. tribution days. And it’s not over, according to ing the pandemic it expanded operBrooklyn location every week. The But River Fund capitalizes on a “It means the world to actually Starzman. He expects another ations to four days per week. At its Richmond Hill location brings in an specific section of the tax code that say that I am doing something to spike after July, when the federal peak, it was giving out food to additional 100 pallets, he estimated. incentivizes food manufacturers to help provide for people out here,” benefits contained in the HEROES 3,800 families. “Just to put that in perspective, give to charitable causes. If the busisaid Brendon Boodho, a staff memAct come to an end.

“It has been an absolutely insane the average semi-truck takes about nesses give to River Fund, section ber who started off as a volunteer. Durga Das said that people stand effort. You can’t imagine,” Chief 20 pallets. So we’re talking about 13 170(e)3 gives them an additional tax Of the families the organization in the pantry line for around an Production Officer Otto Starzman tractor trailers of groceries per write-off of 50 percent of the profits helps, about 60 percent come from hour and a half to two hours to get said. week, going through our site,” Starthey would have realized if they had different parts of Queens. Another their food.

River Fund founder Swami zman said. sold the product. 22 percent come from Brooklyn, but His goal is not strictly to feed Durga Das, who grew up in Ozone Starzman estimated that River River Fund’s network allowed it to most of the rest are from the other those who do not have the money Park, originally started the organiFund gets about 55 percent of its scale up during the crisis. Even boroughs, some even coming from in their bank account for groceries zation to combat HIV and AIDS food free from companies up and though the government proportion of as far as Staten Island, Nassau Counat the end of the week but to help after his partner died from the down the supply chain, from manuits supply shrank as demand skyty or New Jersey. families that are generally strugvirus. He had moved from Califorfacturers all the way down to retailrocketed during COVID, it was able “We don’t exactly promote what gling against poverty. nia back to Queens, and became a ers and everybody in between, to pull more from private businesses. we’re doing,” said Starzman, noting “The people here before the pancase manager for the AIDS Center including logistics companies, Apart from what River Fund is that most people hear about it demic were probably facing a challenge. After the pandemic, it’s a whole different challenge,” Durga Das said. Waiting in line for a week’s worth of groceries on Saturday, Amrita Singh said that she and her husband had both lost their jobs at the outset of the pandemic and were still looking for work. She had never needed or asked for assistance in her life, but she has three teenagers to feed, she said. “The food is helping a lot. This is my fourth week. I come once a week. Everybody is just cooped up. Bills are piling up but we try to pay as much as we can slowly. The main thing is shelter and food,” Singh said. Left, Swami Durga Das hands out face masks during a food distribution. Right, volunteers pack baskets full of potatoes at the Richmond Hill location. The “We just have to thank God we’re line for food stretched out over a half mile behind them. still alive.” Q