“People truly want to help, which is nice and refreshing,” Ms.

Terrasi said a staff member sometimes even let her know if extra peppers, cucumbers or carrots were available for her guinea pig, Rainbow. Terrasi, 37, has been able to stock up on basics, and she got frozen pizza and chicken wings for Giovanna’s birthday party, when she turned 7 in August. But when she quit her job as a marketing coordinator at a construction company in September 2020 in order to help Giovanna with remote school, their needs became greater. Jaclyn Terrasi, who lives nearby, had sporadically turned to the pantry when she and her daughter, Giovanna, were short on food. (City Harvest is also part of the network of Feeding America, a beneficiary agency of The Neediest Cases Fund.) During the pandemic, the pantry began serving about 200 people a day, three days a week, compared with 70 people before the pandemic began. Hour Children focuses on serving incarcerated and formerly incarcerated women, but also has a food pantry that is open to all community members. Corvacho said.Ĭity Harvest used a grant to support food banks in the city, including one run by Hour Children in Queens. “Our goals are really to provide that social support, to be able to identify how can we help the students move to the next step,” Ms. Some of the efforts seek to help parents understand pediatricians’ advice and educate New Yorkers on the benefits of Covid-19 vaccines.

Those include initiatives begun in response to the pandemic, which aim to improve health care in low-income Black and immigrant families. Bernal to be a parent ambassador for Literacy Partners’ programs in her community. Romelia Corvacho, who recently took on a new role as Literacy Partners’ health equity manager, recruited Ms. Bernal, 30, has now taken on a formal role in helping others through Literacy Partners, which received a grant from The New York Times Neediest Cases Fund’s endowment this year. “I feel really, really good, because now I know I can help other people,” Ms. She no longer needs an interpreter at medical appointments and she recently helped translate for another Spanish-speaker she met at the hospital, a far cry from when she relied on translation software or deferred to her husband, who speaks some English. She is now working as a babysitter, and is proud to be able to give advice in English about childhood development. Bernal said, her English improved significantly.

Far cry 1 part 7