Sandwiches aren’t the only heroes on Arthur Ave. in the Bronx.
A deli in the borough’s fabled foodie paradise of Little Italy teamed up with nearby Fordham Preparatory School to provide a month of lunches for workers on the coronavirus front line at St. Barnabas Hospital.
Through its Lunch for Life initiative, Fordham Prep raised $20,000 to buy meals for St. Barnabas staffers. That money was matched by a $20,000 donation from an alum, and then the school raised another $10,000 on top of that, bringing the total to $50,000.
The idea started with Fr. Christopher Devron, president of Fordham Prep, a boys Jesuit high school in Fordham Manor.
Devron had already donated the school’s personal protective science equipment to the hospital and was looking for other ways to help out. So a few weeks ago he asked David Greco, owner of Mike’s Deli on Arthur Ave., a popular destination that’s been featured on the Food Network, if his business would like to get involved.
According to Greco, Devron offered to buy lunch for everyone at the hospital. “They love your food — but I want to pay for it,” Greco said the father told him.
Greco sent lunch over for the staff soon after their conversation, and Devron was suddenly inspired.
“They really appreciated it,” Devron told the Daily News. “So it got me thinking I’m sure there are others who would like to help.”
Devron appealed to the school’s donor network, and the money soon started rolling in.
“One thing led to another and it just snowballed such that we are able to provide lunch breaks for the folks over there for at least a month,” Devron said.
Greco and his staff make sandwiches, wraps, pizzas, pastas, salads and fruit cups. His Latino cooks even prepared a Taco Tuesday.
The deli takes some special steps to provide the meals. The Mike’s crew meticulously portions and package each serving individually to avoid contamination.
Like many other small businesses in the city, Mike’s Deli is hurting — Greco has had to lay off half of his staff and he’s struggled to cut paychecks for those who remain. But everyone at Mike’s is committed to keeping the meals coming.
“We are like family,” Greco said. “They just get it … We just want to be active and see if we can help people who are really suffering.”
He hears about the toll coronavirus is taking from a pal at St. Barnabas.
“My friend who works there calls every day crying,” Greco said. “He’s thanking us for what we are doing for them … It’s really sad, it’s really emotional.”
Fordham Prep’s effort to fund the lunches wouldn’t have worked out without alumnus Jim Rowen, a financial services executive who felt moved to match whatever the school was able to raise.
“Father [Devron] called and he mentioned the mission of the school and talked about buying them lunch and talked about raising $20,000,” Rowen said. “I was so moved, I struggled with how I could show my appreciation.”
Other Catholic schools have followed suit. Fairfield Prep, a Jesuit high school in Connecticut, started a similar Lunch for Life program last month for local health care workers.
“There is no copyright on these ideas,” Rowen said. “So the more people that come up with this support in creative ways … can make a big moral difference for the people on the front lines.”
The lunch program is also in line with Fordham Prep’s mission as a Jesuit institution, Devron said. “The purpose is not to just build ourselves up, but to advance the common good,” he said. “Now I think it’s supporting those who are helping those who are sick.”
Rowen said that was a valuable lesson he took away from his years at Fordham Prep.
If Jesuits and Fordham Prep graduates “stood by and didn’t help, then I think we missed the whole point, what it means to be in the services of others,” he said. “So if we can help somebody, that is what we are trained to do.”
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