For more than a year, members of the Rockaway community have lined up every Tuesday for free food from a food pantry located at Rockaway Beach Boulevard and Beach 117th Street.

"Whatever food I get here, I appreciate a lot,” said food pantry recipient Rackesh Sookeo.

What You Need To Know

  • A food pantry in Rockaway Park that receives funding from one city agency is being told by another city agency that it cannot operate under its current conditions

  • The issue has sparked a legal battle that could determine the fate of the food pantry and whether or not it can continue serving the community

  • The space on Rockaway Beach Boulevard and Beach 117th Street is run by Salvatore Lopizzo, president of the nonprofit Veteran In Command

  • The nonprofit operates low-income housing for veterans and other transitional groups, as well as counseling services at the same location. The food pantry is run out of the garage

The space is run by Salvatore Lopizzo, president of the nonprofit Veteran In Command, which operates low-income housing for veterans and other transitional groups, as well as counseling services at the same location.

The food pantry is run out of the garage.

"So people that live upstairs, they have a kitchen, they can eat, they can cook,” Lopizzo said.

"They said, ‘Listen, there's no pantries in your area. Would you be willing to do it?’” he said. “So, I said, ‘OK, I got a garage, let's see what we can do.’"

"I got a good friend Sal. He cares about the veterans,” said food pantry recipient Howard John Cienski.

Sookeo said he can't work due to a weak heart that functions with the help of a portable heart pump. He showed NY1 X-ray images of the heart pump in his chest.

"So, the only thing I could do was connect a pump to the heart,” Sookeo said. “They help me a lot. They help me a lot."

But the food pantry's future could be in jeopardy. After the agency received a complaint, Lopizzo said the city's Department of Buildings told him operating the pantry out of a garage is not allowed, ​even though he receives funding from the city's Human Resources Administration to operate it there.

"They came up with the complaint that the garage should not be used for a pantry, it should only be used for a vehicle,” Lopizzo said.

Lopizzo appeared in court over the matter back in May, but a decision was postponed until September.

“Every Tuesday there’s anywhere from 50 to 60 people lined up on the property line to get food,” neighbor James Mack said. “It should be somewhere where there's a storefront."

Mack, who owns the house next door on Rockaway Beach Boulevard, has complained that the pantry lowers the quality of life for neighbors.

"It's not set up for it. I came out here last week and I saw two rats around my garbage can,” Mack said.

Other neighbors disagree.

"That's their own opinion. I don't see anything wrong with the process,” said neighbor Mohamed Mansour, who lives on the other side of the Veteran In Command house.

"The place is very safe, clean, there's no noise,” he said.

"We're just doing good stuff here, man, and people need to eat,” Lopizzo said.

Lopizzo is due back in court on Sept. 26, when he'll learn whether the food pantry stays or goes. Lopizzo said he's exploring his options in the event he is forced to stop operating pantry, including utilizing another space and looking for other sources of funding.