Glen Cove High School pantry helping the hungry

When City Councilwoman Dr. Eve Lupenko Ferrante posted on Facebook on April 13 that the Glen Cove High School pantry was running low, the community took immediate action.

“Urgent need for food,” Lupenko Ferrante wrote on the Glen Cove Neighbors page. “The high school pantry for the Glen Cove School District is practically empty and the next pick-up date for children and families in need is [April 15]. But Island Harvest, which supplies most of the food, just called and they can’t deliver until [April 16]. Can some of you help?”

“We have 42 hours to pull this off,” she added. Within hours, Lupenko Ferrante said, residents began donating money and groceries.

The high school’s pantry, at the back of the school, serves students and their families, and in normal times its activities are coordinated by special education teacher Rachel Sheridan. During the coronavirus pandemic, however, Glen Cove City School District Superintendent Dr. Maria L. Rianna said, teachers, residents, local leaders and organizations, including the nonprofits Long Island Cares and Island Harvest, have been working with the pantry to ensure that no one goes hungry.

Long Island Cares closed its School Street distribution center on April 8, just a week after it opened. “There was concern that if large groups of people came to the School Street location, it would be very difficult to adhere to social distancing rules,” Maureen Basdavanos, Glen Cove’s deputy mayor, explained. “The same concerns arose with Island Harvest due to large groups of people congregating in close proximity to each other. These are both wonderful organizations, and they’re working with local groups who have the ability to deliver meals.”

Allen Hudson, the assistant principal at Glen Cove High, said that Long Island Cares, Island Harvest and NOSH (for North Shore), a group of volunteers that is providing emergency meals, have been instrumental in the effort to meet the nutritional needs of students and families. Hudson said that Long Island Cares recently dropped off fresh produce and pre-made meals that can be picked up at the high school pantry. And volunteers have been delivering meals to those who don’t have transportation, including people who live outside the district.

“I mean, kids are hungry,” Hudson said. “When we hand out those lunches, those breakfasts and lunches, you have to see … It’s sad, but it’s great to hand kids the food.

“We went to Mason Drive,” Hudson added, “and we were just giving out lunches, and then before you knew it, people started coming to the windows — ‘You have food? You have food?’ We found that the people who needed possibly more couldn’t get here to the school.” 

He described the operation as a community effort. Rosa Diez, a security guard at the high school, has been managing the pantry, and community members can donate not only food, but also money, to district parent Anne DiVittorio Markoulis’s Venmo account, which she uses to shop for supplies.

Lupenko Ferrante got involved with the pantry by accident, she said. Before the effort began, she and her husband, John Ferrante, had spearheaded a program they call Do Good to Feel Good. JAG Specialty Foods, a company owned by Ferrante and Gregg Desantis, that produces breadsticks and stores and delivers food for other companies, donated some 900 packages of food to the hungry.  

Then Ferrante and DeSantis donated 100 boxes of food to the pantry. Seeing the need there inspired Lupenko Ferrante to make the post on Facebook. “Doing this Do Good to Feel Good program has been soul food for me and John,” she said. “He keeps saying, ‘I just want to inspire others.’” 

“It’s really been what the community need to get through this difficult time, this challenging time,” Rianna said. “This has been a community effort, a lot of work put in every day, and I’m truly in awe of the people who have really donated and I’m honored to be a part of this district. It’s incredible.”

Those who are in need of food or who are interested in volunteering can call (516) 801-7610. Though the pantry and meals are intended for students and their families, no one will be turned away.