Long Beach MLK center feeds hundreds during pandemic

A line of hungry Long Beach residents hoping to get a home-cooked meal and school lunches at the Martin Luther King Center stretched down Riverside Boulevard and onto East Fulton Street on Monday in the midst of a pandemic that is making shopping difficult, if not impossible, for many.

MLK Center Chairman James Hodge, assisted by U.S. Rep Kathleen Rice, State Sen. Todd Kaminsky, and Metropolitan Realty among others, has brought the center’s Grab and Go program to life.

Though Hodge said the Long Beach School District was doing a good job of feeding students, he felt that another program in the North Park area would be beneficial. “The majority of kids that are on the school food program live right here in North Park,” Hodge said. “What we wanted to do is help the school district out and build another site.”

The school district has sites at the Long Beach Recreation Center, on Magnolia Boulevard, at St. Ignatius Martyr Church, on Grand Boulevard, and at St. Mary of the Isle Church, on East Park Avenue. It also distributes lunches at the MLK Center.

The facility cooks and distributes healthy lunches to children, parents and seniors. The inequities in the black and Latino communities have been “magnified” by the pandemic, Hodge said, and he is offering services to combat those inequities. “And so we’re trying to serve healthier meals to our seniors — to everyone,” he said. The center provides meals from noon to 2 p.m., and delivers food to seniors.

According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, black and Hispanic communities have the highest percentages of Covid-19 cases and deaths in New York City.

Though the data is preliminary, the CDC states that factors such as crowded homes and systemic inequalities such as residential segregation often lead to worse health conditions.

Hodge said that the center gives out about 300 meals per day. About 15 volunteers, several from STRONG Youth, Inc. — a youth, family and community development organization — help make the program possible.

William Doepper, who receives food from the center’s senior program, said that volunteers make deliveries to his home on West Broadway, and to other seniors. “The meals are excellent,” Doepper said, praising the work the MLK Center is doing for the community.

While individuals waited for meals, Hodge told the crowd that Kaminsky had donated funds to create virtual programs during the pandemic. Hodge said he would like to see virtual science, technology, English, arts and math, or STEAM courses, as well as fitness and other educational programs, begin as soon as possible.

“I would love to see these virtual programs, since we got checks, to see them start next week,” Hodge said. “We have people who are ready and willing, and we’re going to make this happen.”

Kaminsky said he wanted to see the funds used for programs that would supplement what children are doing in school, and added that it was vital to help community members in need. “The Martin Luther King Center is a critical anchor in the community,” he said. “These are our neighbors, these are our family, these are our friends, and at this time we’ve all got to come together to help the center out — and help any center or not-for-profits doing God’s work.”