Hundreds of cans, packages and canisters of food filled up John J. Byrne Community Center in Uniondale during a Thanksgiving food drive organized by two local women.
Uniondale residents Mirtho-Myra Lamonier and Thalia Thony accepted the donations from dozens of generous participants over the course of three days — Nov. 21 to 23 — hoping to help people in need in Uniondale and across Long Island.
“With the current state of everything, and the current inconsistencies with government benefits, we thought that I should do something,” Lamonier said. “I was talking to (Thalia) about it, and I said that we should do something. She agreed, and that day she made a flier, and we started organizing from there.”
After the federal government shutdown, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP, suffered critical funding shortages, impacting over 40 million people across the United States. While the program is on track to return since the shutdown ended last month, its effects can still be felt throughout communities across the country, including Uniondale.
“I have people who are close to me that are on SNAP, and so this whole idea became about my spirit,” Lamonier said. “Every day I wake up saying that I’m so grateful for having food, but there’s still people out there that need it.”
After collecting three days’ worth of donations, the two donated them to Saint Martha Roman Catholic Church, in Uniondale, and the Freeport branch of Long Island Cares, a food bank that serves Nassau and Suffolk counties.
Across Long Island, more than 310,000 people lack access to food, according to L.I. Cares, including over 70,000 children.
“I think this is such an amazing opportunity to give back,” Thony said. “For us, it’s just a great feeling to be able to say that we put this together. So many people from the community came out to help us to really give back, especially during Thanksgiving. This is such a vital time to give back and help other people.”
David Greaves, the community center’s president, offered the use of its building, on Jerusalem Avenue, as the food drive’s collection point. “It’s incredibly gratifying for our organization to be able to play a part in helping alleviate things such as food insecurity and other disparities in our community,” Greaves said. “It’s a pleasure having the ability to hold events like this that benefit our community.”
Thony, who works in the public health industry, added that her background gave her an understanding of the need not only across Long Island, but also in Uniondale.
“Having studied public health, food insecurity was one of the topics we researched a lot,” she said. “When you learn about stats from other locations across America, you’re certainly shocked, but sometimes you don’t really take the time to think about where you live, in your own community.”
For Lamonier, the food drive, the amount of donors involved and the number of food-insecure people they potentially helped all combined to give her a larger perspective.
“I think so often we get caught up in our own lives and what we have going on, and there’s so many things going on in the world,” she said. “There are so many people that are your neighbors, or people in general, that are on food stamps or government benefits, and who don’t have access to a home-cooked or fresh meal.”
Both women said they gained a sense of pride from being able to help combat the hunger crisis, both locally and regionally. “These people are suffering, so it feels good to be able to say that I gave back,” Lamonier said. “I’m proudly able to say that I was able to contribute to at least one person’s meal for the day.”
