Caring New Yorkers increasingly lend a helping hand to neighbors in need as war against coronavirus gets local

Sharice Gadson, 56, (left) makes a meal delivery to a senior citizen.(Wes Parnell/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS)

For Jannie Barnes, charity in the time of coronavirus begins with a handcart.

The 64-year-old Queens resident delivers hot meals for LIC Relief in Long Island City, wearing a smile as she hauls 33 hot lunches to a senior center near the Queensbridge Houses on a recent afternoon.

“That’s the joy I get, them thanking me,” said Barnes, who lent her helping hands to the group three weeks ago. “Plus it gives me a chance to get out. I’ve got structure. It’s like working.”

While the COVID-19 pandemic keeps New Yorkers separated by face masks and social distancing and self-quarantine, a growing number of city residents are connecting through local mutual aid groups now sprouting like spring flowers across the shuttered boroughs.

The nascent operations are nonpolitical, nonpartisan and grassroots, just neighbors helping neighbors during the worst crisis of their lives, keeping those in need from falling through the coronavirus cracks. The news gets out by word of mouth, social media or flyers distributed on the street. Google docs are used to identify both the people who need help and those prepared to offer it.

Rico Vasquez, left, a coordinator for LIC Relief at Blend Restaurant on Vernon Blvd. in Long Island City, Queens, gives away a lunch bag to an unidentified man. (Luiz C. Ribeiro/for New York Daily News)

LIC Relief has already registered 300 volunteers, including 70 drivers, and provided an estimated 5,000 meals.

“It’s really cool to see so many different community members of so many walks of life come together now," says Margaret Horning, 32, of the neighboring Astoria Mutual Aid Network. “Queens is really big, so we’re trying to help as many people as we can with all the resources we have.”

The do-it-yourself approach to the crisis is taking hold citywide, from Astoria and the Lower East Side to Flatbush, Brooklyn, and the South Bronx as a growing number of local groups emerge to help the elderly, the ailing and the indigent to survive as the deadly pandemic stretches into its second month.

Handshakes may be out, but reaching out is definitely in. Those in need can get their groceries delivered, receive a fast cash infusion of “love offerings,” hear a knock on their door — or just respond to a stranger’s friendly voice.

“I had no real expectations of how this might go and the type of responses we might get,” said Crystal Hudson of Greater Prospect Heights Mutual Aid in Brooklyn. “And I’ve been incredibly — just so many adjectives come to mind — humbled and heartened by the number of people ready and willing to help.”

Rob Curtin, left, gets a meal at the Queensbridge Houses.(Wes Parnell/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS)

The feelings are mutual among the recipients of their kindness. Joanne Bullock, 72, who lives by herself and struggles to get around with a bad knee, was thrilled when Barnes appeared with her meal.

“It’s a great help,” said Bullock. “You don’t have to worry about how you’re going to pay for groceries, get the groceries, carry the groceries. ... It releases a lot of the stress I have.”

A resident of the Queensbridge Houses receives a free meal.(Wes Parnell/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS)

Other tales of the needy are more terrifying. Maria, a 56-year-old Queens nurse, and her husband were both diagnosed with coronavirus. As her temperature spiked to 103 degrees, the couple became “bedridden, delirious" and worried about their 11-year-old daughter, she recalled.

Maria, who signed up three weeks earlier with Astoria Mutual Aid, unexpectedly found herself relying on their help.

Locals pick up free meals at Little Chef Little Cafe in Long Island City during New York's coronavirus outbreak. (Wes Parnell/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS)

A volunteer delivered cooling wipes to help the couple stay clean and reduce their fevers. Another simply spoke with Maria on the phone, providing a much-needed link to the world outside as the couple’s health returned.

“It sounds small, but I can’t describe how huge it is,” she said. “I just think we could have died in there.”

Sharice Gadson, left, makes a meal delivery earlier this week. (Wes Parnell/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS)

Curtis Young, who also contracted and recovered from COVID-19, is now distributing meals at the CLOTH food pantry on W. 159th St. in Harlem. He helps unload the deliveries, and hands out fruit and vegetables from a safe distance to a steady steam of those in need. The line can stretch a full block along 159th from Amsterdam Ave. to Broadway.

“This is a very diverse group of people,” he says. “It’s not just homeless people. It’s impacting people who have jobs."

Owner of Centro Pizza Steve Coguidice sets up free meals in Long Island City for residents to pick up. (Wes Parnell/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS)

Recently laidoff restaurant worker Alicia Rodriguez, 43, was among the ranks of the recently unemployed. She’s living through the crisis in an apartment with her sister and her two children, ages 16 and 25.

“It’s been a month and a week of not working,” she explained on her second day in line. “I was passing by here, and someone had a bag of groceries and said they were giving away food. I don’t know what I would do (without the help).”

Kelly Craig and Pastor Patrick Thompson are pictured inside the LIC Relief at the Plaxall Art Gallery food pantry located at 4-25 46th St. in Long Island City, Queens. (Luiz C. Ribeiro/for New York Daily News)

The sheer volume of New Yorkers in need can be difficult to process, yet the new breed of volunteers find their efforts rewarded in many ways. At Astoria Mutual Aid, the volume of calls to their command centers increases as time passes: Undocumented immigrants dying at home, yet afraid to dial 911. Requests for food and money. Even people who need only for someone to walk their dog.

“It definitely has been overwhelming,” said Astoria volunteer Maryam Mudrick, 35. “But in a moment that feels really dark in so many ways, it’s a beacon of light and shows the kindness of humanity.”