New 'Suffolk Cares' County Hotline Delivers Food To Homebound

SUFFOLK COUNTY, NY — Earlier this month, an initiative called Suffolk Cares launched to address the need of residents who may be in need of food assistance but unable to leave home for various reasons. Abena Asara, an African Studies professor at Stony Brook University is one of the organizers of the initiative along with Minerva Perez from Organizacion LatinoAmericana (OLA) of Eastern Long Island. Asara, Perez and their fellow grassroots organizers saw that the issue of food access during the coronavirus pandemic became one of the most pressing issues of the crisis.

Asara noticed how the demand on food pantries and community organizations in Suffolk County were taxing the resources of these volunteer-run organizations, and that the coronavirus pandemic was creating new hurdles to ensuring all Long Islanders who were food insecure could be reached. Many of those in need, Asara told Patch, either didn't have access to transportation or were forced to make a decision between their health and their health: someone at home quarantining after COVID-19 exposure or due to an increased health risk now had to decide between being hungry or taking on additional risk from the virus.

A collection of representatives from different grassroots organizations who work on issues of housing, racism, and food access coalesced around this issue in mid-April.

"It became clear to us that food access was the forefront issue," of this new crisis, Asara said. "And the people doing the excellent work of trying to provide food were also overextended and stretched. We felt everyone in our area should have basic access to lifesaving food in this time."

The group created a Change.org petition that received an overwhelming response, and they went to Suffolk County to begin planning a way to create a safe and effective food delivery hotline system. Suffolk County decided to use its existing 311 hotline but rather than only direct those calling about food to existing food pantries and pickups, the county will now assess whether residents are in immediate need of food delivery.

Once that measure of safety of immediate food need is taken care of, then a long-term plan for households to access further resources can be more effective, Asare explained.

Suffolk County is working with the townships to drop off the food to those who call. The hotline is available in multiple languages including Spanish and Creole.

And even though the pandemic has eased across Long Island, the increased demand on food resources may continue indefinitely along with the economic fallout of the pandemic. Asara hopes the hotline stays on as a permanent example of the collective sentiment of the pandemic.

"We've been talking about helping each other, being strong and unified during this time. But what does that actually look it?" Asara said.

How it works:

· Call 311 if you are in need of food and do not have ANY access to transportation

· You will be asked a few questions as part of Suffolk’s 311 assessment

· When approved for food delivery, you will receive a box of non-perishable food items within 24-30 hours of your request

· Non-perishable food items will be dropped at your place of residence-no contact with delivery person

· Call 311 Monday-Friday between the hours of 9:00am-4:30pm (if you call on a Friday, food will be delivered on Monday)