Gloria Valdez Castillo was among an estimated 430 people who received donated food on Tuesday, August 5, during a pop-up food pantry hosted by Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of New York. The distribution took place late morning into early afternoon outside the Alianza Dominicana Cultural Center in the Washington Heights area of Manhattan.

“In the past several months, the prices of food products have gone up too much. So this was needed; we are very grateful,” Valdez, 50, who resides with her daughter and niece, told The Good Newsroom shortly before receiving a blue, food-filled bag with the words: Goya Cares and a red-heart image. “It would be very good for these kinds of (charitable) efforts to continue – it is good for the community. It helps many people.”

The lead co-sponsors were Goya Foods, Inc., and the National Dominican Day Parade Board (The parade is set for Sunday, August 10 in Manhattan.) Organizers said an estimated 20,000 pounds of food from Goya was distributed, mostly beans, rice, and juice.

On site during the food distribution were Lisa Flores, chief executive officer of Catholic Charities Community Services of New York, and Rafael Toro, national director of public relations for Goya Foods.

“Catholic Charities Community Services provides a wealth of services to our community, whether it’s prevention of eviction, mental health services, and we have our youth program here in Alianza – and obviously one of our cornerstone programs is feeding our neighbors,” Flores said.

“We have pantries all over New York and in the Lower Hudson Valley through our partner pantries. Today, we have a special distribution through our partnership with Goya and Alianza…At Catholic Charities Community Services, our normal distributions are the lifeline for many communities; it makes the difference between whether or not they’ll have a meal…As we see cuts to federal programs, we expect that Catholic Charities Community Services is going to be needed even more by families in our communities,” Flores added.

Toro from Goya Foods said, “We think Catholic Charities is an important organization; they help a lot of people – and we’re very happy that we can work with Catholic Charities. It’s important to be able to help people whenever possible. That’s what Catholic Charities does. It also does it with a spiritual nature; we believe in that as well.”

Also on hand was Maria Lizardo, a member of the National Dominican Day Parade Board, who told The Good Newsroom, “The week of the parade we do a food distribution (every year). It’s a collaboration – and so we’re here in the heart of Washington Heights making sure that we distribute food particularly at this moment in time when food insecurity is at an all-time high…This is a great opportunity to give back to the community.”