A community refrigerator offering free meals to people in need in Queens during the COVID-19 pandemic has been vandalized.
The full-size refrigerator was installed in front of the state office of State Senator Jessica Ramos in East Elmhurst in October and was endowed with dozens of volunteers to provide free meals to the poor.
But when The Post visited on Saturday morning, there were food containers and spilled rice on the ground, and the doors to the refrigerator and the power grid in the back were “destroyed,” according to Ramos, who called it made of hatred ”. ”
“It has been really devastating to know that someone would do this with a real life line in our community,” Ramos told The Post. “At the height of the pandemic, we were the epicenter. Most of our neighbors, specifically in this block and in this neighborhood, have not received any economic incentive and are not entitled to unemployment insurance.
Ramos said his office is trying to collect surveillance video footage to see what happened. So far no contact has been made with NYPD, he said.
The refrigerator is provided by volunteers with food, fruit and vegetables donated by local businesses throughout the day, he said, adding that “hundreds of people” use the refrigerator to feed their families.
Ramos said he is calling on the community to make donations so that food can continue to be distributed. “I am grateful to everyone for the outpouring of support and donations we have received to replace the refrigerator and keep it stocked for several weeks,” he said.
“Many of our neighbors have already contacted us,” he said. “We are going to replace the fridge, we will continue to keep it fully stocked. No one will be harmed by our neighbors.