On December 10th, 2020, a six-alarm fire ripped through six buildings at 109-25 Jamaica Ave. in Richmond Hill, destroying the homes and possessions of 12 families right before Christmas.
To help the 50 victims of the fire who were left homeless, Assemblywoman Jenifer Rajkumar, representative of Assembly District 38, coordinated donation efforts along with Community Board 9 leaders, the Richmond Hill - South Ozone Park Lions Club, the Red Cross, and non-profit leaders and small businesses.Rajkumar converted her Woodhaven based office
into a donation site, and donors quickly filled four rooms with food,
clothes, and gift cards for the victims.
Among the donors was the Zara Realty
Charitable Foundation and the George Subraj Family Foundation, two
philanthropic organizations who continuously support their local
community in various ways. Together, the organizations purchased and
donated 13 laptops to the children of the affected families.
With remote learning required during the pandemic, this donation will ensure they do not fall behind in their schoolwork.
"Our
team is proud to partner with Zara Realty Charitable Foundation and
provide the students with the necessary technological tools for their
education," said Rajkumar.
“We are working every day to help the
community through the pandemic. This work includes ensuring that
education is not interrupted,” she said. “These Chromebooks will ensure
that these children can continue to learn through remote learning.
“When we saw this fire tear through our community, we knew we needed to step up and help those who were impacted, including children who need to continue to complete their school work remotely,” said Tony Subraj, co-managing partner at Zara. “Residents of these buildings are lucky to have a representative as dedicated and hard-working on their behalf as Assemblywoman Rajkumar. We were happy to work with her to ensure that these families have access to the help they need.”
So Zara Realty is in the "philanthopy" game now after building a legacy of recidivist tenant harassment. It wasn't that long ago when they were charged for swindling tenants at one of their apartment buildings with onerous fees and charges in order to circumvent rent stabilization laws and when they threatened immigrant tenants by placing DHS placards in the hallway of another apartment building at the height of President Trump's ICE crackdowns to scare them into moving out of their rent control apartments.
