'Everyone should do their part to help,' say business owners who did just that
A food donation effort in Wyandanch that began six weeks ago with a handful of recipients is now serving food to hundreds of people.
The community outreach initiative was borne out of a conversation between two business owners who operate across the street from one another on Straight Path, on the border of Wyandanch and West Babylon. Jeff Garrett, who owns Jeff’s Crab Shack, and Syed Hussain, who owns a Shell gas station, were talking one morning about how hard the COVID-19 pandemic had hit the Wyandanch community.
“We were saying how people were already struggling and with this crisis, there are people suffering like never before,” Garrett said.
Hussain said he had noticed his regular customers were having trouble paying for groceries.
“It really touches your heart because I’ve been here 15 years and seen these kids grow up,” he said. “We started talking about how everyone should do their part to help people right now.”
Garrett, of North Babylon, and Hussain, of Floral Park, dug into their own pockets and set up a 6-foot-long table near the gas station with fruits and shelf-stable food like grits and canned vegetables. Things were slow at first, but Garrett began putting the word out on social media and more people and donations started coming.
Now every Tuesday at noon, an army of volunteers bags up vanloads of groceries, while others provide cooked meals in takeout containers and additional volunteers grill up hot dogs and hamburgers. Hundreds of people start lining up more than an hour before the food is handed out. The donations are often gone within two hours, Garrett said.
“You can see the desperation written on people’s faces,” Garrett said. “A lot of people were already living paycheck to paycheck and others didn’t have that three or six months of savings. This thing blindsided everybody, from the poorest to upper middle class.”
Hussain and Garrett are still buying food and contributing it to the community. Hussain said that so many recipients park near the station that he’s resigned himself to not having any business when the food is given out.
“We make money all of our lives,” he said. “This is not the time to make money, it’s the time to give back.”
Food donations are accepted every Tuesday from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. at the Shell station at 1185 Straight Path in West Babylon.
On Tuesday, volunteer Felice Holder, of Lindenhurst, made 120 pieces of chicken and several trays of macaroni and cheese and rice and beans.
“For them to sacrifice out of their pocket to feed a community is just incredible,” she said of Garrett and Hussain.
The effort provides more than just food, said Fredrika Miller, a teacher at Wyandanch High School who often sees current and former students at the site.
“This whole thing is taking a toll on the social and emotional health,” she said. “When they come, it’s a way to converse and have that outreach.”
Miller said another teacher and an assistant principal at the school are also delivering meals to families who can’t get to the donation site.
“This is helping so many people,” Garrett said. “The demand grows each week and we’re just trying to keep this thing going as long as this crisis is going on.”
Denise Bonilla has worked at Newsday since 2003 and covers the Town of Babylon, including the villages of Lindenhurst and Amityville.
