Pastor Jerry H. Anyaene’s Silent Heroism During the Pandemic
In the haunting stillness of New York City’s COVID-stricken streets, where silence once buzzed with sirens and fear, a quiet force moved through the neighborhoods of the disabled, the elderly, and the forgotten. He came not with headlines but with heart. Behind his mask, Pastor Jerry H. Anyaene bore more than food he carried hope.
Armed with latex gloves, a face mask, and an unshakeable resolve, Pastor Jerry transformed his taxi into a lifeline. Day after day, he volunteered to deliver emergency meals through GetFoodNYC, answering a call far louder than any pulpit sermon. His parish? The doorsteps of the city’s most vulnerable. His gospel? Compassion in motion.
As the virus spread mercilessly through the boroughs, Jerry didn’t flinch. He stood shoulder to shoulder with National Guard members, maneuvering boxes, ensuring no one was left behind. It was not uncommon to see him navigating through icy sidewalks with a hot meal in one hand and a prayer in the other.
Then, the inevitable came. Somewhere between a drop-off in the Bronx and another in Queens, the virus found him. Pastor Jerry tested positive for COVID-19. He could have paused, retreated, and allowed the weight of the pandemic to fold him into the shadows. But he didn’t. After weeks of isolation and a determined recovery, he returned not for accolades, but because the mission wasn’t finished.
“Service is love in action,” he told a city official when asked why he came back. “And love never quits.”
In recognition of his tireless efforts, on December 1, 2020, the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission honored him with a Certificate of Appreciation, a small but powerful testament to his service. The document now hangs in his modest office, not as a trophy, but as a reminder of a city held together not just by policy and science, but by the selfless courage of individuals like him.
Jerry H. Anyaene is not a household name. He won’t appear on late-night shows or in viral videos. But in the tight-knit communities he served, he is remembered not as a volunteer but as a savior. And in the narrative of New York’s darkest hours, his story is a page we must never skip.