Yankees spread HOPE in Queens
JORGE MUNOZ may live in Queens, but he’s not a Mets fan. In fact, up until 11 a.m. on Tuesday, he didn’t even follow baseball. Munoz says he’s too busy and doesn’t have the time to watch the game.
So what happened when Yankees Robinson Cano, Curtis Granderson, Boone Logan and Hiroki Kuroda showed up at Munoz’s back door?
He put them to work, cooking up enough potatoes, Colombian sausage, rice and lentils for more than 100 people — all out of Munoz’s tiny kitchen.
Chicken was thankfully not on the menu.
The visit was part of the Yankees’ fourth annual HOPE week (Helping Others Persevere and Excel), but the four Bronx Bombers had to pull kitchen duty for only one day. Munoz and his family have been doing it every day, 365 days a year, since 2004, missing only one day when a snow-storm made the roads impassable.
Munoz gives the food out on the corner of Roosevelt Ave. and 73rd St. to anyone who can’t afford a meal.
“Coming from a poor country, we always help people there,” Cano said.
“Seeing all these people get to- gether and he’s cooking food every single day, he’s really amazing.”
“The Angel in Queens” — as he’s also known — got the idea when he moved to the neighborhood and saw a group of Latinos waiting outside.
“They told me ‘we are day laborers and if we have a job today, we have money to eat, but if we do not have a job, we don’t know,’ ” Mu-noz recalled.
Munoz came back the next night and with eight bagged lunches. He now serves anywhere between 100 and 160 meals de-pending on the night.
“The fact that he’s doing that not only for his family but for his extended family is the first thing that jumped out at me,” Granderson said.
“The chance to see how he’s able to do it because there’s no way i can cook for more than five people.”
The Yankees gave $10,000 to Munoz, whose efforts are supported by donations and his own bank account. He and his family were part of the pregame ceremonies Tuesday night at the stadium.
Munoz, however, won’t be able to stay for the game. He needs to head back to Queens, where Yankee GM Brian Cashman will join him on the corner of Roosevelt Ave. and 73rd St. to hand out more meals to those who need it.