By ELIZABETH SAGARIN and KEITH GRANT
Ingram said he spent most of Wednesday on the phone, and by Thursday deliveries to the homeless group began to arrive.
"The cooperation of these restaurants was incredible," he said. "I got a 90 percent rate of people wanting to help. I was just so impressed with their responses."
Food poured in from all kinds of sources on the heels of Ingram's calls. Among those on the receiving end of the phone were Associated Supermarket on East Park Avenue, which delivered food almost immediately, and Lee Norden, manager of the Lido Kosher Deli. Norden got a call from Ingram on Wednesday. Two days later, the store had bags of food ready for Ingram to deliver to the homeless group.
"We try to help out everybody we can," Norden said. "We just thought it was a nice thing to do."
Some merchants Ingram reached in Island Park reacted instantly to the call for help. Luis Buitrago, owner of Chicken Holiday, brought over hot chicken meals with mashed potatoes and vegetables for all 11 people.
The people, who come from all over New York City, had shown up at the New York City Division of AIDS Services in search of emergency housing on Monday, March 12. They said the agency told them that no accommodations could be provided in the city because of the coming St. Patrick's Day parade and other holiday weekend festivities.
The agency declined to comment specifically about the 11 people but faxed a release stating that "DASIS refers, on the same day, individuals seeking emergency housing to medically appropriate housing with minimum dislocation. The city places individuals outside the city limits if appropriate housing is not available at the time requested. In these instances, DASIS offers its clients transportation, including carfare and van service to and from the emergency facility."
A man calling himself Leon was the first to alert the media to the group's plight after the city agency dropped them off in Island Park. He said that if the group didn't agree to be shipped out of the city, the agency said it would not provide housing for them until the next week. Because of the media coverage, Ingram became involved.
"When I saw the TV report, I thought 'That's incredible!'" Ingram said. "These people were sent out there with no food and no money!"
Faced with sleeping on the street, the group had chosen to travel outside the city despite the lack of public assistance. One of the men, Gary Cooper, was forced to take his son out of school for a week.
"I miss school. There's nothing to do here but watch television," the 12-year-old said.
Almost all members of the group are on some form of public assistance. Those that are HIV positive receive enhanced cash benefits, according to the city agency. DASIS clients receive $193.50 semi-monthly. They also receive an average of $127 in food stamps monthly, the agency said. If clients haven't been in the system long enough to receive benefits, they can access emergency funds on a daily basis at a rate of $16 per day.
Members of the group said that emergency money can only be accessed from facilities in the five boroughs, where records of their financial status are kept. To get to the city to get money, they had to ride the train from Island Park at a round-trip cost of $12. Upon returning to the Island, they had $4 left and spent that not on food, but either on bus or car fare from the train station to the motel, they said.
The fact that the motel rooms were not equipped with kitchen facilities only compounded their helplessness, they added. Some merchants, in fact, had been prepared to deliver frozen goods to the motel, only the find that the group could not then cook the meals.
Leon explained that one of the homeless men was severely mentally disabled and probably in need of medication.
"God forbid anything should happen, but what if something happened with him?" he said.
After seeing the amount of concern local people had for them, the group's spirits were bolstered. Yet negativity loomed over their heads when thoughts of Monday, the day they would return to the city, came up. On Monday evening, many of them would have to be placed in housing again.
"We never get a chance to stay at a place long enough to get a job and make our lives better," said Darnell Jacobs, one man not infected with HIV. He looks after a woman named Racquel Tucker, who, along with AIDS, suffers from seizures that she said resulted from being beaten over a four-day period in an abandoned building where she was held against her will.
Admittedly, some members of the group have made poor choices in their lives. They have used drugs and alcohol, which a woman who has been in the system for two months, Arlene Chase, said impaired their ability to make sound choices regarding sexual activity. Others, men and women, were rape victims who contracted the disease from their offenders.
Whatever their current condition, these people say they want to be self-sufficient and productive members of society. "Give us time to settle, give me 30 days to find a job and work. I know I can do better," Jacobs said, drawing agreement from others in his group.
In the meantime, the men and women were grateful for the response of local merchants, and particularly Ingram for taking such action on their behalf. For the Long Beach man, though, reacting as he did was a no-brainer.
"After I saw the broadcast, I said to myself that somebody's got to do something," he said. Ingram explained that St. Patrick's Day is the anniversary of the death of a close friend of his, Rick White. In addition to being a terrific father, White, Ingram said, was a very charitable person. Since his death, Ingram had decided to do as much to help others as he can.
"It felt good to know that I was able to make a difference," he said.
