By Lee Landor
[Note: This article and its accompanying photos originally appeared in the Queens Chronicle on Jan. 24, 2008. This content is the rightful property of the Queens Chronicle.]
Despite the biting cold, more than 200 people stood in a line that spilled down the driveway and onto Lefferts Boulevard on Saturday morning.
They were waiting for their weekly “pantry bags,” provided by the River Fund, a nonprofit direct care service organization and food pantry that has been operating quietly for the last five years at 89-11 Lefferts Blvd. in Richmond Hill.
Now, Executive Director Durga Das is making some noise.
“We’re putting a business plan together,” Das said, “and writing grants for the councilmen and the senators.”
A true product of the 1960’s peace movement, Das said he never wanted to be “part of the system.” But he has been forced to venture into it as need has increased and funding has remained stagnant.
“It’s a frustrating and difficult time,” Das said. “I think it’s completely that the need is getting crazy. That’s why we’re putting out a business plan to get something larger, but still in the same area.”
The River Fund provides services for the Richmond Hill and South Ozone Park communities, as well as parts of Forest Hills, Jamaica and Brooklyn.
“It’s staggering to me how many new people are coming in [for food],” Das said, putting the number at about 150 since November. “I think it’s food insufficiency or people’s bills and their rent and jobs.”
Because of the growing need, he has reached out for funding assistance to local elected officials, including City Council members Joseph Addabbo Jr. (D-Howard Beach) and Tom White Jr. (D-South Ozone Park), state Sen. Malcolm Smith (D-St. Albans) and Congressman Gregory Meeks (D-Jamaica).
“We’re very grassroots. We’re all volunteer based,” Das said, laughing about his new fund-seeking endeavor. But the goal — moving into a 10,000 to 15,000 square foot building and creating an after-school program — has kept him focused.
Das vowed never to lose sight of his purpose and the premise of the River Fund’s existence: providing physical, emotional and spiritual support to the hungry, homeless and poor, to low-income seniors and to children and adults living with HIV/AIDS.
Last year, the River Fund served 56,563 people in Queens and Brooklyn and has projected that by the end of 2008 it will serve 64,500.
“We get every variety … from grandparents to people who are working to people who just lost their jobs to people who are on public assistance,” Das said.
The River Fund was started by Ma Jaya Sati Bhagavati, a Brooklyn native who lived on the streets during her adolescence until she was taken in and turned her life around, dedicating it to being a spiritual teacher and serving those in need. She has expanded it into a national organization, with chapters all around the country.
The New York chapter has eight programs, including mobile outreach like the once-weekly Street Relief Program at Rufus King Park in Jamaica.
Since opening in 2003, the Richmond Hill location has grown tremendously, with about 50 volunteers, 11 grants and 45 sponsors, including the Children’s Aid Society, the Food Bank for New York City, the Monteforte Italian Bakery and the recently opened Trader Joe’s in Rego Park.
As part of its attempt to start a program dedicated to healthy lifestyles advocacy, the River Fund has also partnered with some health food organizations, such as Natural Organics and Nourish America — which provided more than 400 bottles of vitamins for children.
Das, 59, grew up in South Ozone Park and has lived in Queens his entire life. He said it is his duty to give back to the community, which he began doing in 1990 by baking cookies for those with HIV/AIDS. “I understand the mentality,” Das said. “I think it’s part of my background, my heritage to [be affiliated] with [this] stuff.”
Although Das said he would “never want to qualify why we do this,” he explained that this became his greatest responsibility and duty. As a child, Das watched as his mother stood in food lines and worked to make ends meet. In the 1970s he met Bhagvati, who became and remains his spiritual teacher. During the AIDS epidemic of the mid-1980s, Das, who is gay, lost two partners. He then realized that this was his calling.
The River Fund’s policy of turning no one away has made it a useful resource for fearful or undocumented locals, who have a place to turn to when in need.
The food pantry is open on Saturdays from 9 to 11 a.m. at 89-11 Lefferts Blvd., and at Rufus King Park on Tuesdays from 11 a.m. to noon. For more information visit the Web site, www.riverfund-ny.org.