Coronavirus Update: Customers Grateful For Unsung Heroes Of The Crisis -- Grocery Store Employees & Delivery People
YONKERS, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- There are a lot of heroes stepping forward in these difficult days.
Many are leaving the safety of their homes to make sure we continue to get all the food and supplies we need.
At Stew Leonard's in Yonkers, Jackie Williams rings at the speed of sound.
Customers are grateful for these unsung heroes, putting themselves on the front lines -- and we really mean lines!
"It's been crazy, there's been a line all around the store," employee Johan Ibanez said.
But Ibanez says he's working hard to pay the bills.
"The paycheck is what keeps me going," he said.
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Long hours, long days, but there's a joy too, Aoefa O'Sullivan says.
"You feel like a bit of a hero, being out here doing this?" CBS2's Dick Brennan asked.
"Uh, yeah, a bit," she said, laughing. "It's kind of cool though, 'cause we're helping a lot of customers, helping them out."
For restaurants that shut down, like D'Gabby in Eastchester, owner Gabby Gamba steps up and out, bringing her restaurant food to front doors.
"I'm a little scared because there is a fear that I might get it. I have to be careful with who I come in contact with," she said.
At DeCicco & Sons in Pelham, shopping is the new norm where customers are limited inside the store and the ones outside stand six feet apart.
"Some people yell at me. I got yelled at three times today," shopper Giuliani DaSivla said.
But most people appreciate the rules: gloves on shoppers' hands, glass dividers separating the young cashiers, like 16-year-old Jazmyn Gyapong.
"I don't have any fear," she said. "I feel pretty safe."
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And the store takes care of its most vulnerable shoppers.
"From 7:30 to 8:30 in the morning, we'll be doing for senior citizens and those with compromised immune systems only for the first hour that we're open," store manager Chris Dapolita said.
In troubled times, they turn out each day to keep the system running. And Jackie Williams? She just keeps on going.
"I'm hanging, I'm hanging. Gotta do what I gotta do," she said.
