Thankful for Community
This Thanksgiving, NYCHA, resident associations, businesses and community organizations, and elected officials provided NYCHA residents across the city with donations of turkeys, groceries, and prepared meals to ensure everyone had the opportunity to have a Thanksgiving meal with their loved ones.
NYCHA hired nine food businesses operated by NYCHA residents to prepare and deliver Thanksgiving meals to residents experiencing gas outages. On November 24, the resident-business owners delivered 2,766 meals to 580 families at 47 developments throughout the city.
The entrepreneurs are graduates of the Food Business Pathways program (FBP), a business accelerator program operated by NYCHA’s Office of Resident Economic Empowerment & Sustainability (REES), which provided free food business training to help NYCHA residents and Section 8 voucher holders reach their dreams of starting or growing their own businesses.
The nine resident business owners who provided meals are Brandi Covington of Tainted Treats/Cooking with Corey; Stephen Johnson of Big Daddi Smoke House; Cornel Robinson of Cornel’s Catering; Niani Taylor of Munch Hours, Inc.; Bernadette Alvelo-Miller of Bernadette’s Place; Sherri “Quiafua” Royes of Chef Sherri’s Catering; Jonathan Alexander of L’Boe Catering; Cristiana Franco of Sabor Restaurant & Bakery; and Lechelle Dawson of 6ix Catering.
Jonathan Alexander (pictured below), owner of L’Boe Catering, was one of nine resident-business owners who prepared Thanksgiving meals for fellow NYCHA residents at various developments.
Here are just a few of the many other community Thanksgiving events held for NYCHA residents: