A team effort feeds hospital workers in a time of crisis
Even in a crisis like this, chicken soup helps.
The soup, sandwiches, hot dogs, knishes and other dishes are being delivered to health care responders at area hospitals across Long Island in this time of coronavirus crisis, courtesy of Ben’s Deli and United Way of Long Island — an idea from former Rep. Steve Israel.
The deliveries will be filled as health care workers place meal orders directly to Ben’s. They're to be funded by reimbursements from the United Way, through focused donations from members of the public looking for a way to do some good for medical professionals.
Israel said he got the idea when he was forced to self-quarantine at his home in Oyster Bay Cove after being exposed to someone who’d tested positive for COVID-19.
The former congressman said he ordered from Ben’s — pastrami on a plate, coleslaw and a pickle; he can’t eat bread due to celiac disease — and then had a conversation with his wife, who said she was getting texts from family members who are physicians saying how difficult it was to get food during their shifts because many restaurants are closed due to the crisis.
Israel put two and two together and came up with the idea. He called Ben’s owner Ronnie Dragoon and United Way of Long Island president and CEO Theresa Regnante and, overnight, the idea was born.
“It’s all funded through donations,” Israel said Wednesday, the first day the program was being rolled out. “The concerns hospitals have [with bulk orders] is receiving unwanted food. So, this operates on demand. If someone in the medical profession needs lunch, they call Ben’s, place their order, and this fund will pay Ben’s for the meal.”
"It's great to see people come together, and leaders come together, to provide a path forward," Regnante said.
With three locations on Long Island — Carle Place, Greenvale and Woodbury — Ben’s vice president Todd Silverstein said his restaurants and staff will still be able to deliver to hospitals in Nassau and Suffolk, pledging he’ll deliver anywhere food is needed.
“We’re in this to take care of the community, put them at ease and also to keep half our employees out of the unemployment line,” Silverstein said, noting that about 100 or so of his 260 metropolitan-area employees are still working. “Most of our dining room staff is out, because we’re closed,” he said. “But we've taken some servers, waiters and waitresses and changed them to delivery drivers to keep them working.”
He said that in addition to the new program, Ben’s is also doing paid deliveries, takeout and curbside pickup for nonmedical responders — with packaged meals prepared by staff following strict protocols.
Information on how to make a donation to the fund to pay for meals for medical professionals can be found at the United Way site at www.unitedwayli.org/givechickensoup.
“The health care community is pivotal in this crisis, and United Way of Long Island is honored to support former Congressman Israel’s plan to help the workforce,” Regnante said in a statement, adding: “This partnership is true to our mission, as it focuses on the health and welfare of Long Islanders.”
As for Israel? The former politician, who is writing his third novel, works as director for the Cornell University Institute of Politics and Global Affairs, as well as a commentator for MSNBC. "He has been a great friend to the United Way of Long Island," Regnante said of Israel. "It's nice to see that people are doing what they can to help people out."
John Valenti, a reporter at Newsday since 1981, has been honored nationally by the Associated Press and Society of the Silurians for investigative, enterprise and breaking news reporting, as well as column writing, and is the author of “Swee'pea,” a book about former New York playground basketball star Lloyd Daniels. Valenti is featured in the Emmy Award-winning ESPN 30-for-30 film “Big Shot.”
