Religious leaders, community help homeless at Vannie motel

The holidays are a time for people to get together, and Thanksgiving was no exception for the religious communities in Riverdale.

On Nov. 21, members from the community visited the Van Cortlandt Motel on 6393 Broadway to give homeless families staying there turkeys, canned goods, toiletries, and more for Thanksgiving. The city has been using the motel as a temporary shelter for months.

The Thanksgiving project was led by The Clergy Conference of Riverdale, Kingsbridge, Spuyten Duyvil and Marble Hill and came about when religious leaders were brainstorming ideas for the holiday season.

Despite the fact that the Van Cortlandt Motel has received backlash from Riverdale residents and politicians, “[everyone] shared a common desire to help,” according to Rabbi Ari Hart of the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale.

“People were angry and wanted to do something,” Rabbi Tom Gardner of the Riverdale Temple said. “Not everyone was against [these families.]”

Within the last week, an Amazon registry was put together to encourage members of the community to buy items for the families. Last Tuesday, 50 boxes show up in front of Reverend Andrew Butler of Christ Church Riverdale’s home. And they did not stop coming for days.

“The sight of that was amazing,” he said, adding that he lost count of how many were being delivered.

The following Sunday, more than 100 people showed up to Christ Church Riverdale ready to pack backpacks and boxes of donated goods, including handmade Thanksgiving cards from local children. According to Rev. Butler, there was “so much energy and excitement” in the room.

“The room was so packed,” Rev Butler said. “There was no way we could accommodate more people.”

When reflecting on how different faiths came together for one cause, Rev. Butler said that “it just shows what we have in common and loving your neighbor” and hopes “the community will be more sympathetic” to the families at Van Cortlandt Motel.

Mehnaz Afridi, an assistant professor and director of the Holocaust, genocide and interfaith education at Manhattan College who was involved in the initiative, said that this was a “call to civic duty [that] we need today.”

“I as a Muslim came together with Jews, Christians and all people to support people who are less fortunate,” she said in an email to The Press. “The mission of our Lasallian Catholic College is about social justice and I was honored to be part of this.”

But at the end of the day, Rabbi Hart just wants the families to know that they’re welcome in Riverdale.

“We hope they know Riverdale cares,” he said. “We support their journey to stability and we hope this was a positive stop along the way.”