Know Your Neighbors: Ruth López Martínez

If you have received food from the Love Wins Food Pantry, you have surely seen Ruth López Martínez. Every Friday, she comes to the pantry long before I do to hand out tickets to those who line up early. She has a big voice and a bright smile and is firm but tender with everyone. 

Ruth, 54, uses the pronouns she/her/hers. She is a retired teacher who has been working with Make the Road New York, an organization that supports immigrants, for 14 years. With their help, she founded a cleaning cooperative, Pa'lante. Although she is no longer a teacher, Ruth continues to work with children as well. 

One Saturday night, we got together and Ruth told me about her love for people, for Colombia, and for serving her community. Then she left me to have margaritas with her friends. 

Ruth: I worked for 18 years as a high school teacher in Cartagena, but in the poorest schools. When it rained, they came to get us teachers in wheelbarrows because it was pura agua, pura agua. The water was up to here [gestures to her knee] and there were little snakes, tiny little green snakes. 

Carly: And how did you like it?

Ruth: Very much. I have a friend who is still there and she never married, never had children. Everything that she earns, she gives to the children. She buys books for the students, buys shoes for them. 

In Colombia, the teaching profession is different from here because they pay us well there. And everyone gives you credit because it's great to be a teacher. [laughs] In Colombia, there is a lot of respect for teachers. From the parents, from the students. I have students who have done well, and they call me on Teacher's Day and everything. 

Carly: How long have you lived in Queens?

Ruth: Twelve years. I have always lived in Queens. My parents came 50 years ago. My mom is buried here. She left a little house, an apartment, a three-story house here at 77th and 34th. And that’s where we went. I was the one who never [lived there] because I worked in Colombia, so I had my profession and it was good. When I finished my service time and retired, I decided to come. I took my pension and that was that. 

Ruth, in the upper right corner, with her family.

Carly: How did your work with Love Wins Food Pantry start ?

Ruth: Daniel called me one day, already knowing me and the things I do. He called me one day and said, “What do you do on Fridays? Can you find time for me on Friday? " I said, "What for?" and he said to me, "We are going to deliver food to the people." 

Above all, I am very, very punctual. You will never see that I don’t show up. Never. If I'm sick, I go. It's a compromise. I don't like to be late, nor do I ever say, “It's just that I couldn't go, it's that such a thing, it's just that” - no. I think that's why he wanted me there, and because he knows my work.

Then he invited me and I liked it. I really like how the people treat me. The people who go to receive food treat me beautifully. They hug me, they bring me sweets, they bring me gifts. 

I don't know if you remember the Asian girl who collects bottles? One day, she gave me an envelope. She said, "For you." So I opened it and there was five dollars.

[pauses] I cried a lot. I cried because it was a way of saying to me, “Thank you.” And I said, “No! I can’t! I can’t! You need this!" She said, "Please ." So I said, “OK. It's fine." I took her by the hand, and I led her and we had a coffee with the five dollars. "Let's have a coffee." And we paid for it with the five dollars. 

There is a man who tells me every Friday how his aunt is, how his mother is - about half an hour telling me the story of his house and who knows what.

I hear them, and I hug them, and I go like this [pats her own arm], and that makes them feel good. A lot of people who go there don't have anyone to tell them a nice thing. That’s why I’m there. 

Ruth posing in her room.

Carly: Why is Love Wins Food Pantry different from other pantries? Is there a difference?

Ruth: Yes. It's the treatment. How we treat people. At others, they are rough to do things. They don't scream, but they make you feel bad. “Come on! Get in line! "

No. I tell them, "Ay mi amor, please come - " I tell them the same thing. But I say it nicely. 

I think that we respect people. We don't just give them food. We give them a nice moment. This is different from what others do. 

Do you remember that I told Daniel one day to get music? I said to Daniel, "We need music for people to sing and cheer up." That makes us different. 

And people know it. People feel it. People feel that they are not just going to find a box. You know that, sometimes, going to look for food ... is not pleasant. Sometimes it feels humiliating. So if you also have to stand in line at nine in the morning in the rain, in the heat, in the snow, and they yell at you and treat you badly, it's horrible. But if you make their time nice, laugh and sing to them, they don't feel bad. 

I have visited many food pantries and I know that it is so. They don't yell at you or anything, but they're indifferent. There is a total indifference to you as a person. I think our function is also to see them as they are, as people, and to give them a nice little time, right? It costs nothing. 

Carly: Can you tell me something about your projects other than Love Wins Food Pantry ?

Ruth: In Colombia, we have an institute called CENA, Centro de Enseñanza Nacional de Aprendizaje, which are two-year short courses. But not everyone can enter. It’s not easy. 

I want [to develop] one that is easy, for poor children, who spend six months studying electricity, to fix the refrigerators, to fix the televisions, to cook, things like that. I have here the connection to donors who can help me with the money. With Make the Road New York, I have been able to find people who can help me with the project. 

Among the things I want is to bring people from here to teach them things and, above all, English. Why? Because Cartagena is a tourist city. We are the first tourist city in Colombia. The International Tourism Organization says it is the fifth most beautiful city in the world and many Americans and many Europeans visit us throughout the year. 

We have the problem of the prostitution of girls of 10, 12, 13 years old. They are pretty Black girls and they don't have anything - they don't have shoes, they don't have clothes. So the American goes, [or] the European, and gives them a hundred dollars, and… And the parents allow it because they need it. They have nothing. They are very poor. The houses are made of bahareque. The floor is dirt. I want those girls - at least to rescue some. 

Ruth in the 1980s.

Carly: How do you describe yourself? What is important to tell someone new?

Ruth: To a new person I would say, I am López. I come from Cartagena, Colombia. I love my city. I miss it. I have my roots there. I always say that my ancestors were Black.

I am a person who loves people very much. I like to see the people's smiles when I can shake their hands, when I can hug them. That makes me feel very happy. 

There is a dream that I have, but I don't know if I will have the opportunity. I want to adopt a dark-skinned girl. I dream of having a girl of my own. 

Carly: She would be a very lucky girl. 

Ruth: Yes! I think I have a lot of love to give her. 

With love, Carly