LONG ISLAND CITY — Dozens of NYCHA tenants whose apartments are without cooking gas thanks to an outage are getting a helping hand from the community this Thanksgiving, with a local eatery donating hot meals for Thanksgiving.
Residents in a building at the Ravenswood Houses have been without gas service since mid-October while repairs are made following a gas leak, according to NYCHA.
In response, a local restaurant owner who grew up in the neighborhood has volunteered to feed the 46 families affected by the outage, along with grocery delivery company FreshDirect, which will donate cooked turkeys and chickens, local leaders said Wednesday.
"People don't have to worry about where they're going to spend Thanksgiving, they can actually spend Thanksgiving in their homes," said Bishop Mitchell Taylor, head of Urban Upbound, a local nonprofit that helped organize the effort.
Miriam's, a new restaurant that opened three weeks ago at 24-16 34th Ave., will be cooking candied yams, collard greens, stuffing and pie for the tenants, according to owner Brian McMichael, who grew up in the Ravenswood Houses.
"I'm from this neighborhood," McMichael said. "When the pastor came to speak to me, it was a no-brainer. I feel what's mine is theirs."
Officers from the NYPD's Police Service Area 9, which oversees the Ravenswood Houses, will deliver the food on Thanksgiving Day, Taylor said.
"It's really a great collaboration," said State Sen. Michael Gianaris.
According to NYCHA, Con Edison shut down gas at the building on Oct. 13 "as a precaution," due to a gas leak, affecting 48 apartments.
Repairs have been underway since, and include replacing all of the piping from the basement up into each apartment. Residents have been given hot plates to use in the meantime.
"NYCHA staff has been on site since day one working to restore service as soon as possible," the Housing Authority said in a statement.
"We understand that this is not easy for our residents as it is a lengthy complex multi-step process, and we appreciate their patience as we make progress."
