St. Thomas Aquinas Food Pantry Given ‘Brooklyn’s COVID Heroes’ Award by Eric Adams

Tags: Currents Brooklyn, NY, COVID, Faith, Inspiration, Media, Queens, NY

By Jessica Easthope

Father Dwayne Davis looks at a glass door full of pictures that’s become known as the “wall of fame” at St. Thomas Aquinas Church in Flatlands, Brooklyn.

In the pictures are the more than 60 volunteers who helped out at the parish food pantry during the height of the pandemic.

“In a real sense that wall of fame is part of our parish history, when we tell our COVID story that’s definitely going to be a part of it,” said Father Davis.

He says he wouldn’t be a COVID-19 hero without all those people, that’s what his new award says. He was given it by Brooklyn Borough President and democratic Mayoral candidate Eric Adams.

From April to August of 2020, St. Thomas Aquinas opened a food pantry that quickly became a massive operation. It was the first parish pantry to have a drive-up option. And in that time, it fed more than 69,000 families.

“People were struggling trying to make ends meet,” he said. “Some people had money to pay the rent but not get food and for us to be able to help them in that way was a great joy.”

Father Davis says the food pantry’s reach will forever be part of parish history, but more than that it’s part of its legacy.