Labor & Employment Law

ATU Member: Hero to the Hungry

By Mike Hall

After his bus driver shift, ATU Local 1181 member Jorge Munoz feeds the hungry in Queens seven days a week.

There are two things the hungry, jobless and likely homeless men and women in Jackson Heights, Queens, N.Y., can count on every night. Jorge Munoz, a school bus driver and Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 1181 member, will be there at 73rd Street and Roosevelt Avenue, and he will be there with hot food, coffee and hot chocolate. 

Munoz began his drive to feed the hungry in 2004 by collecting leftovers from local businesses and distributing sack lunches, an effort that has evolved into his now nightly hot meals. To date, the Colombian immigrant, who is now a U.S. citizen, has served more than 70,000 meals. 

Dubbed an “Angel in Queens” by The New York Times and one of CNN’s Top 10 “Heroes,” Munoz says:

When I see these guys on the street, it’s like seeing me, 20-something years ago when I came to this country.

Local 1181 President Michael Cordiello tells the ATU News:

This quiet unassuming gentle man has now gone above and beyond what the normal everyday person may only think of doing… Jorge Munoz takes one-half of his weekly net salary as a school bus driver, purchases groceries, cooks and serves meals to the homeless in his neighborhood in Queens.

Munoz, his mother, sister, and two volunteers fix the meals in their small home kitchen. The first floor is jammed with stacks of canned and boxed food, a huge freezer full of food, aluminum pans, Styrofoam containers, paper products, blankets, warm clothes–all contributed or bought with the donations which support their work. 

Many of the donations come from fellow Local 1181 members who daily leave boxes of food at his bus for him to distribute to the borough’s needy.  Munoz also spends much of his free time picking up the things that people contribute around town.  He stretches every penny. Says Munoz:

I’ll help anyone who needs to eat. Just line up.  

For more on Munoz visit the ATU News, the Angel in Queens Website, Angel in Queens on Facebook and CNN’s Heroes page.

Full post as published by AFL-CIO NOW BLOG on December 06, 2009 (boomark / email).