What to Know
- A new multi-million dollar initiative will provide food and household items to the families of healthcare workers in New York City.
- During a Tuesday press conference, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that Leon Black, a billionaire founder of an equity firm, and his wife, Debra, teamed up with the Mayor's Fund and donated $10 million to create Healthcare Heroes
- Healthcare Heroes "will be putting together at least 300,000 packages of food and household supplies for doctors, nurses, hospital workers of all kind to ease their burden and help their families," de Blasio said
A new multi-million dollar initiative will provide food and household items to the families of healthcare workers in New York City.
During a Tuesday press conference, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that Leon Black, the founder of an equity firm, and his wife, Debra, an award-winning Broadway producer, teamed up with the Mayor's Fund and donated $10 million to create Healthcare Heroes "to help get food and crucial household supplies for the families of the healthcare workers."
In addition to the initial donation, the couple said said they are looking to match up to $10 million in donations from others who can help.
"If more comes in, they are able to provide another $10 million to match up," the mayor stated. When all is said and done, the initiative could raise as much as $30 million
Healthcare Heroes "will be putting together at least 300,000 packages of food and household supplies for doctors, nurses, hospital workers of all kind to ease their burden and help their families," de Blasio said. "The Red Cross will be doing a lot of the deliveries for the Healthcare Heroes. The Robin Hood Foundation will be managing the matching funds to make sure as other donations come in, we activate that match."
The deliveries to the families will kick off "hopefully, no later than Monday – hopefully even sooner," according to de Blasio, who added the initiative is "an amazing effort."
News
This is not the sole initiative in New York City that has arisen due to the COVID-19 crisis that has taken a hold of the state.
There are hundreds of grab-and-go food sites throughout the city where New Yorkers can come and grab food (breakfast, lunch and dinner) for as many members of their family as they need.
The city has already provided 2.6 million meals to New Yorkers who needed food in the last three weeks “and that is just the beginning.”
"No one is turned away, no one has to pay anything," de Blasio said, adding: "This is about making sure people have food."
There is also home delivery service for those who are homebound. If you are in need of this service, call 311 or visit nyc.gov/getfood to sign up.
