By Mitchell Sasser | WeINSPIRE Reporter

HARRISONBURG, Va. - While every community is navigating the varied impacts of COVID-19, some communities are being hit harder than others. The Bronx, long a symbol of American poverty, is now New York City’s coronavirus capital.  

Reyes Claudio, the senior director of operations at Brilla Public Charter Schools, is witnessing the impact of COVID-19 in her South Bronx community firsthand.

 “Right now, obviously it’s a huge devastation for our families,” Claudio said. “Specifically our most vulnerable families - many that were living paycheck to paycheck, many with specific status in immigration concerns.”

Claudio is a staff member at Brilla, and she is also a parent to two school-aged children. They live in residential community district one, within walking distance of the schools.

 “This is the community that I’m most proud of, being born and raised in the Bronx,” Claudio said.

 Claudio said that at Brilla, they have a holistic approach when it comes to the stakeholders in their community. Their priorities are the children they serve, the families that they come from, the staff that work in the buildings, and the community at large.

 “If we don’t support their emotional, social, physical well-being, then we’re not giving them a fighting chance in a society that already tells them they’re less because of the zip code that they live in,” Claudio said.

 Claudio said that more than just concerns about health, there is a fear of a lack of resources in the Bronx that is also devastating to the Bronx population. Staff and families are reporting multi-hour waits to get inside grocery stores and pharmacies. She added that there is a “state of franticness” among the residents, especially for those who don’t know how to advocate for themselves.

 Claudio decided to step-in and do something about it. Borrowing advice from Executive Director at Brilla School Network Luanne Zurlo, “operate with prudence and not fear,” she was motivated into action.

 Claudio was a part of #BRONXEDUCATED, a social media campaign that partnered with multiple local businesses to bring more awareness to education, particularly in the South Bronx. Brilla partnered with local places like Mottley Kitchen, Bronx Native, and Empanology to create a Brilla cookie, a Brilla t-shirt, and a Brilla empanada.

So when two of Claudio’s teammates, John and Tess Lane, saw that Mottley Kitchen was creating grocery boxes with organic goods from a farm that feeds 4-6 people for 4-5 dinners, they had the idea to support local businesses by helping their community. The dinner box was $160, and they reached out to Claudio and asked her if there were two families that she could think of that they could order boxes for. 

“We knew just from living in the neighborhood for three years – in the non pandemic reality – really fresh food is hard to get,” Tess Lane, the director of talent and recruitment for Brilla Schools Network, said. “The fact that a box could be delivered to them of fresh food from a different supply chain just seemed like an amazing opportunity.”

Once those two boxes were purchased, friends began to sponsor more boxes. It started off simple. For every 10 boxes, Mottley Kitchen would donate a free box.  Claudio said that “it was really awesome,” and they couldn’t wait to get to number 10 so that they could earn the 11th box free.  

 Claudio and Lane also enlisted the help of three captains from the school network to lead the charge and tap into their networks and see if people would start donating funds.  

 One box turned into a few boxes, and Claudio said that it “organically snowballed” into 215 committed boxes, which is over $30,000 in donations. As of May 5, they have 240 boxes.  

Lane said that family and friends have been reaching out to her constantly because they want to support families in the South Bronx. The Brilla community has also been using the #GroceryBoxBrigade to spread their message on social media. Five additional staff members from across Brilla Schools Network are helping secure the financial contributions, the grocery boxes, and navigate the ordering process to ensure Mottley Kitchen has everything they need to serve the families. In addition to a broad range of supporters from across the country, many current and former staff members have financially supported the efforts. 

“To know that one of our favorite café’s that has done so much good for the local community is being supported by ensuring that our students who we love so much are getting fresh food when they otherwise might not be able to because of logistical or financial reasons, means the world,” Lane said.

 “The great thing about this specific box is that it’s not only just the ingredients to feed the family, it’s the luxury of fresh, organic ingredients that not only would our families wouldn’t have access to right now because of how difficult it is for them to get resources, but they probably wouldn’t have been able to have access to these type of resources prior to COVID-19 just because of their socioeconomic status,” Claudio said.

Lane said that the recipes in the box change every week, but alway includes milk, eggs, butter, fresh fruits and vegetables. 

“Anyone can turn on the news and see that the South Bronx is sort of the epicenter of this pandemic,” Lane said. “This sort of puts a real tangible, ‘hey, let’s do something about it.’”

“It’s important because I think that in this moment of fear, it’s given me so much hope for uniting our community for ‘saying in the midst of this fear we have come together because it is more important to feed a child than it is to be scared if I get this disease,’” Claudio said. “That is more important than that fear.”

The link to donate can be found here.