Bed-Stuy Nonprofit Launches Coronavirus Food Drive

BEDFORD-STUYVESANT, BROOKLYN — A Bed-Stuy nonprofit hopes a food drive will help lay the foundation for life after the new coronavirus burns out.

It's best to start helping now, said Antoine Cassidy, the founder of No Gun Smoke School Tour. He worries if people don't step up during the outbreak then they won't have what they need later.

"We have to put food and supply banks in our community," he said.

No Gun Smoke School Tour is holding a food drive billed as the "Help Us Help Others Initiative." It asks for donations to help give people concerned with their jobs and bills a "fresh start."

"A FRESH START food package will include groceries that will help families not think about their (next) meal but how the community is coming together to help others," a flyer for the food drive states.

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Bed-Stuy food pantries have reported trouble keeping up with demand as the coronavirus crisis stretches into weeks.

Cassidy, who was previously profiled by Patch, hopes the community steps up in this moment. His No Gun Smoke School Tour reaches thousands of school children and aims to lift them up and inspire them through art, music and more.

Now, he wants to inspire Bed-Stuy during the coronavirus. Homeless families and elderly people in apartments are in need of food, he said.

And food stability is important for moving past this, he said.

"You can’t think without food or water or nothing to drink," he said.

Cassidy hopes to give give 50 families bags of groceries, perhaps more going forward.

Food, other household items and money donations can be dropped off at Trisha Wireless Phone Store at Malcolm X Boulevard and Chauncey Street. Call 305-923-0128 for more information.

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