Stepping in to help her neighbors, by Nathan Weiser

Red Hook’s Jacqui Painter has been helping Red Hook’s vulnerable population out in a variety of ways and it all started due to her connection with the elderly.

Painter, who is from Red Hook, has been working with the Red Hook Senior Center for the last four years and they were her inspiration to start the mutual aid group that she calls Red Hook Relief at the beginning of the Covid epidemic.

She was able to spread the word through her contacts at the Senior Center. Director Maria Sanchez informed her seniors about Red Hook Relief and that they had people who could deliver food.

Painter’s mission to get volunteers started small.  “To make everything more accessible, I called a few people I knew, and we went around and put flyers around the neighborhood to get volunteers,” she said. “Back then, we thought the only people who were safe to go out were younger folks, people with no immunocompromised disorders, healthy able-bodied individuals.”

She collaborated with others with large networks to expand the reach of the group. Kiki Valentine helped as did Carlos Menchaca’s office.

They also worked with Red Hook Initiative (RHI) to deliver food from the Red Hook Farm directly to residents. Food delivery has been a major part of Red Hook Relief in addition to their two water distributions.

“It was really good to be able to deliver not only food but fresh healthy produce boxes to residents whoe needed them,” Painter said.

Every Wednesday, Red Hook Relief delivers food boxes to about 130 homes and on Saturday they do a food distribution in partnership with Redemption Red Hook Church and RHI.

They also do a lot of emergency grocery or pharmacy deliveries to residents. They do this to at-risk individuals, which include seniors, people with a disability, or with any health concerns that they should not be outside during this time.

“As well as young single parents who need help,” Painter added. “There are a lot of people who are losing their jobs and can’t provide for their family anymore.”

They have been raising money through apps like Venmo (@RedHookRelief) and CashApp ($RedHookRelief) from people around Brooklyn but mostly from people who live in Red Hook.

Getting volunteers has been key and Painter has found recently a lot of volunteers have been going back to work.

“I think that going into the fall especially just trying to get this neighborhood prepared for possibly a second wave, we definitely still need to have this team of people that are able to respond to not only emergency food and emergency things like water, but also as a reliable and sustainable source of help in the neighborhood,” Painter said.

Redemption Red Hook Church has proved to be a good partner.

“That has been really great because Edwin Pacheco has a lot of contacts in the church and the volunteer community,” Painter said. Pacheco is the lead pastor at the church.

Tiffiney Davis, the executive director of Red Hook Art Project has also been involved with Red Hook Relief.

“The best is seeing our community really work together and that is how I know that we are going to get through whatever the fall brings to Red Hook because there are too many of us for this to fail,” Painter said

To request help, call or text 646-481-5041 or email [email protected].

To volunteer, go to: https://bit.ly/30dDGJN

Nathan Weiser