Celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month with Food

On September 15, to mark the first day of Hispanic Heritage Month, Capital Projects Division (CPD) employee Franklin Velez organized a special lunch break with Dominican food for his colleagues at Long Island City. 

Mr. Velez has been a Staff Analyst in the QA Compliance and Training division of CPD for the past two years, responsible for coordinating training for the department. 

He is also a United States Marine Corps veteran, who served in the Iraq War. “In the military we’re taught to lead from the front, and that comradery and morale is something we always need to keep in mind,” Mr. Velez noted. “I’ve taken that with me throughout the years, whether I was in student government or had a managerial position. I always try to get involved and make sure morale is great.” 

In addition to marking Hispanic Heritage Month, Mr. Velez wanted to bring his colleagues together during the first week NYCHA’s Central Office employees were returning to the office fulltime. 

“As the saying goes, ‘The best way to someone’s heart is through their stomach.’ I thought food was a great way to bring everyone together, especially now,” Mr. Velez said. 

He had the food catered from a lunch favorite of LIC employees, Exquisito, a Dominican restaurant near the office. Food included arroz moro (black beans with rice), arroz con vegetales (vegetable rice), chicharrones de pollo sin hueso (boneless crispy fried chicken bites), and pollo guisado (chicken stew).  

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Mr. Velez wanted to give a special thanks to his CPD colleagues Lee Rivera and Ludin Santa for their help making the lunch a success. Though Mr. Velez organized the luncheon for employees in his division, there was so much food that they opened up the lunch to other staff at LIC.  

Though everyone maintained social distance and wore masks, and most people ate at their desk, Mr. Velez hopes most of his colleagues appreciated it: “It’s little details and events like this that can bring us together.”