Five Towns group fed essential workers and inspired others

Hewlett resident Blair Longaro founded Feeding Local Heroes and Friends on March 20, and in fewer than 30 days, donors raised more than $56,000, which paid for countless meals for essential workers in businesses and other organizations along the South Shore, and inspired the creation of two other groups with similar missions.

“One of my closest friends, Marie Slavens, messaged me that she wanted to know all of the details about how to get this going, because she was going to start the second chapter in her hometown, Wantagh, right away,” Longaro said. “I was ecstatic. She told me she wasn’t surprised I was up to something like this, which is probably one of the greatest compliments I’ve ever gotten.”

Longaro, a transportation coordinator in the Hewlett-Woodmere School District and the mother of two boys, came up with Feeding Local Heroes and Friends as a way to thank her sons’ pediatrician, Dr. Brian Blinderman, of Hewlett, for serving the community. Blinderman was Longaro’s doctor when she was growing up in Lawrence. Her initial efforts were highlighted in a Herald story, “Feeding local heroes and friends on the South Shore,” last month.

Financial support grew rapidly through Longaro’s Venmo and PayPal accounts and, she said, the involvement of many Five Towns restaurants. “I can’t pretend I’m so surprised about all of the money collected,” she said. “This is a very charitable community. I’ve also kept many and have luckily been kept as a friend by many over the years. I’m definitely not a ‘keeper’ of things — I part easily with everything, but not people.”

And people took notice. Originally a private Facebook group page, Feeding Local Heroes and Friends quickly grew from hundreds of members to more than 3,000, and now is an open group. “Many people from different places and different times in my life contributed,” Longaro said. “Everyone who saw the page responded somehow. If they couldn’t contribute monetarily, they shared the page or sent me a private message about how they would love to do more but couldn’t.”

Each day, after Longaro posted the names of the businesses or organizations the meals went to and the restaurants that provided them, several other posts would quickly appear, thanking her for the group’s efforts.

“The list of places we delivered to is overwhelming,” she said. “The homes and individuals we delivered to, who aren’t on the list, are equally as overwhelming. The thing that amazes me the most about the group is how little it really took of everyone to participate and how exponentially huge the impact was.”

That impact was felt by Bridget Jelovcic, who posted the following on April 15: “My name is Bridget and I want to thank you for what you started because through your idea I started a Malverne Feeding Our Heroes and we have raised close to $25,000 in three weeks. I haven’t been on your page since then, but it popped up tonight on my news feed and I wanted to say thank you to you for inspiring me to emulate your lead.”

Volunteer Lee Hoffman, who made calls and helped promote the Hewlett’s group Facebook page, was in a local CVS on March 28 when food was delivered, and she posted about it that day. “Amazing to see this group’s support in action this morning as I witnessed a delivery while at CVS in Hewlett,” she wrote. “Mostly I was so touched by the employees’ gratefulness and excitement, while Pantano’s delivered a wonderful, warm breakfast.”

Longaro noted that some people, including her, struggle with the reasons for donating money to a cause, questioning whether they’re doing it for the attention, and whether others might think less of them for doing so. “A common phrase was, ‘I don’t want people to think I’m doing it for the attention,’” she said. “What is wrong with us humans? How have we gotten to a point where we may back away from doing something positive to help people because we’re worried about being judged for it? This idea pains me.”

Feeding Local Heroes and Friends stopped collecting money earlier this month, but the group is encouraging people to continue the mission of buying food and sending it to those they consider heroes and friends.

“We’re used to putting in tremendous efforts and hoping for tremendous results, Longaro said. “We’re used to putting in little effort and seeing little results. This was something that took little effort compared to its effect and affect. I am not minimizing anyone’s donations or all of the deliveries made or all of the behind-the-scenes work, but I and [the group] would do it all again.”

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