Stories Of Sandy: Brooklyn Businesses Give Back

BY THOMAS NOCERA AND HEATHER CHIN

Williamsburg Chiropractic

Williamsburg Chiropractic’s office at 729 Wythe Avenue recently held a fundraiser event that brought in over $900 for Sandy relief. For every for every patient that Dr. Jared Hoffman and his staff saw, $5 was donated to the Red Cross. For every new patient that visited the office, $10 was donated.

“We felt fortunate we were able to open,” said Dr. Hoffman. “This is something we can do in our day to day to donate and recognize the people in need.”

Seeing the level of success the first time around, Hoffman hopes to hold a second fundraiser in the near future. For more info, visit www.WilliamsburgChiroNY.com or call 718-222-9700.

 

Fairway

Fairway Market’s Red Hook store at 480-500 Van Brunt Street suffered extensive storm damage from being completely flooded and so will not reopen for two to three months, but the company – which has stores throughout the tri-state area – has committed itself to helping hurricane victims in Brooklyn, Staten Island, and other areas of the city.

They are working with the mayor’s office and Brooklyn Borough President’s office to deliver goods to local food banks, emergency relief shelters, soup kitchens, and homeless shelters. They are also using their existing facilities to distribute food aid; 30,000 pounds of food and other items were delivered to the Red food location on November 9 and is being distributed out of the market’s parking lot.

Visit http://www.fairwaymarket.com/store-red-hook/ for updates.

 

Soup Bowl Fundraiser in Williamsburg/Greenpoint

The Soup Bowl Fundraiser is a benefit to support the Greenpoint Soup Kitchen & Food Pantry, which has been heavily involved in recovery and relief efforts.

On Sunday, November 18, from 4 to 6 p.m., guests will enjoy soup and a beer from The Splendid Spoon (formerly Sea Bean Goods) and Brooklyn Brewery. The event is being held in Greenpoint at EAT (124 Meserole Avenue). A $25 ticket gets you a bowl of soup, a locally crafted, handmade soup bowl of your choosing, and a beer from the Brooklyn Brewery. For info and tickets, visit http://brooklyn.cleanplates.com/events/soup-bowl-fundraiser-sandy/

 

Brooklyn Brewery

In addition to donating beer to fundraisers around the country, the Brooklyn Brewery has taken a more direct approach to Sandy relief: serving as a volunteer training center and collection/distribution hub for much needed relief items. The drop off location is at Berry Street between N 10th and N 11th streets. However they are only accepting specific items, and as the need changes so do their requests.

“We’ve always been very close to the community that we work and live in so when that community comes under duress, we feel it’s a natural for us to want to help out,” said general manager, Eric Ottaway, who noted that the Brewery had no direct damage, but their transportation line took a while to get back on its feet.

For an updated list of items being collected visit http://brooklynbrewery.com/blog.

 

South Brooklyn Unite

A number of business owners in South Brooklyn have united to come to the aid of their Red Hook counterparts who are struggling to reopen in the hurricane-devastated neighborhood. They are offering raffles and donating money among other things. Some participants include Brooklyn Tattoo, Lunetta, Shelsky’s, Swallow, By Brooklyn, Henry Public, and Brooklyn Social.

 

Marquis Studios and Kornfeld Foundation

Marquis Studios, an arts education organization based in DUMBO, is providing an extended after-school program at partner schools P.S. 15 in Red Hook and P.S. 253 in Brighton Beach, both of which were hit hard by Sandy and had to relocate students for weeks. Kornfeld is helping to fund these programs, which will help ease children’s readjustment to schools and homes, many of which still have no heat or hot water. At P.S. 15, this will include “Arts Mondays” – extending the pre-K and kindergarten program to run from Monday through Thursday. More info can be found at www.marquisstudios.org.

 

Ikea

Ikea has been donating furniture to Red Hook firehouses and businesses.

 

Junior’s

Junior’s Restaurants are donating $5 from the sale of each pumpkin cheesecake sold at all three NYC locations to the Brooklyn Recovery Fund through November.

 

The Cora Dance School

The Cora Dance School at 201 Richards Street in Red Hook is offering free Zumba and Yoga classes for residents, and calling on dancers to help the volunteer effort and deliver food to houses and apartments around the neighborhood.

 

TD Bank

TD Bank and their charitable foundation donated $200,000 to create a Citywide Neighborhood Entrepreneurship Project that will provide “direct commercial revitalization services to shopping districts throughout New York City,” including those in low-income neighborhoods.

The Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce’s nonprofit, Brooklyn Alliance, will work with the Project with outreach and resource allocation. The Neighborhood Entrepreneurship Program (NEP) will also be helping with “merchant organizing, commercial beautification, Shop Local initiatives, and attracting businesses to low income areas. Services also include programs aimed at direct referrals for small business services such as financing, accounting, hiring, and attaining permits.”

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