Hempstead Town orders closure of food pantry operating out of home
Ramonia and Clement Ramkissoon stand in front of their West Hempstead home on Tuesday where they ran the Friends For the Poor Foundation's food pantry. Credit: Dawn McCormick
The Town of Hempstead ordered the closure of a food pantry that was illegally operating out of a home on a residential street in West Hempstead, a spokesman said.
Ramonia Ramkissoon, director of the nonprofit Friends for the Poor Foundation, had operated the pantry out of her home on Hopatcong Avenue since 2021. The pantry is open on Saturdays and serves about 200 people each week, she told Newsday in a phone interview.
Town spokesman Brian Devine said code enforcement inspectors, along with the Nassau County Police Department, “shut down an illegal commercial use of a residential property this past Saturday afternoon.”
Hempstead issued three violations: illegal use of property, construction without a permit and operating without a public assembly license. The town had issued a warning to the property's owners in March, Devine said.
“While the intended goal to help those in need may indeed be laudable, the property owners have been given prior notice of violations by Code Enforcement Officers for illegal commercial activities at the site in question,” Devine said in a statement.
Ramkissoon said the pantry operated out of her driveway on Saturdays from about 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. but that some people began lining up as early as 6 a.m. She said her neighbors are mostly supportive, even volunteering to help during the summer.
“It’s heartbreaking,” she said of the pantry's closure, “because you can tell they really need it.”
Ramkissoon said the foundation has about 15 volunteers and runs off donations from Island Harvest, Costco and other organizations. When code enforcement officials shut down the pantry Saturday, she said she scrambled to distribute food to nearby churches so it didn’t go to waste.
“It's not a business. It's not like I'm gaining any profit out of it,” said Ramkissoon, who said she previously ran a pantry in Queens with her father. “It’s something that’s helping people in need.”
Ramkissoon said she has a court date in June to address the town violations. She said she’s looking to move the pantry to a commercial space.
Food insecurity is a growing crisis in New York and on Long Island. More than 2 million New Yorkers struggle with hunger, according to data from the New York Health Foundation, Newsday reported in April.
Don Miller, a spokesman for Island Harvest, said the Melville-based organization is responsible for ensuring pantries follow strict food handling standards.
“We are not involved with or take any position on the issues that the pantry is having with the Town of Hempstead,” Miller said in a statement. He said people in need of a pantry can visit www.islandharvest.org or text their ZIP code to 631-450-3775 for information about pantries near them.
Paule Pachter, president and CEO of Hauppauge-based Long Island Cares, said closing a local pantry can “create a gap” in a community's effort to address food insecurity. It will likely cause those who relied on the pantry to look elsewhere for support, he said.
He said the West Hempstead pantry is an example of “a family who clearly is concerned about neighbors in need,” but acknowledged towns have codes “that people have to follow.”
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