Perspectives on feeding the homeless in the neighborhood

Text and photos by Stacie Joy

This spring, I had the opportunity to document an East Village-restaurateur family's efforts (here and here) to feed the neighborhood's homeless.

The married couple, who own a restaurant that's currently closed during the COVID-19 crisis, have made two deliveries to date of boxed meals that they've prepared — a number that has increased thanks to donations from EVG readers.

On a recent day in May, I met up with them again for what will be the third delivery. We’ve learned a bit from our previous two runs and we have music on hand to make the rhythm of the work flow easier. (I’m partial to The Cramps and the three of us find a lot of in-common musicians to keep us company.)

We soon establish a plan, and map out how we hope the day might go. We’ve done all the shopping and the couple has done some of the meal prep the day before. We have contact info from a local resident in need whom we’d hoped to meet up with on the prior trip, and a special request or two, including dog food, which we didn’t have last time as well as extra sanitary supplies.

The delivery goes well, and after days of shopping and planning and hours of prep, handing out all the meals and kits is over in less than 90 minutes. We manage to meet up with the friend of a reader who made a donation in his honor, got the dog food to the couple and their puppy, and spent only a bit over what we had allotted.









This time, when we’re out making deliveries, I ask if the husband can answer a few of my questions. I’m curious about how he feels about the project and if his thoughts vary from his partner’s.

How has this experience been for you?

We came up with the idea for this project at the very beginning of the statewide PAUSE order. There have always been homeless people in the East Village and Lower East Side, but there has been a level of support for them in people who they can panhandle from.

When the city shut down, that interaction disappeared, and the homeless and their plight became much more visible. As business owners, we tried to help individuals by giving them food from the restaurant, but then they started coming back looking for more, and that was difficult for our staff to navigate.

Whatever efforts the city or other organizations implemented wasn’t noticed by us, so we felt we had to come up with a plan to address the problem on our own.

Having grown up in the EV/LES area in the 1970s and 1980s, hanging out in Tompkins Square Park and on St. Mark’s Place, I have seen homeless people all my life. Throughout the years I have thought of ways to help but I always just end up giving someone the change in my pocket or my leftover dinner from the restaurant where I just ate.

As we live our busy lives, balancing work and raising a family, rushing from one place to the other, sometimes it’s easy to let the homeless blend into the background. If we don’t think about them, they can become fuzzy shadows existing only in our peripheral.

But when we carried out our project, we got a glimpse of who they are. We found people from many different countries, many different ages, many different races, and genders. Putting them in the forefront, we discovered they were all people, who, for whatever reason found themselves in a difficult situation living rough on the streets.

Overall, my experience has been mixed. I am shocked there are so many homeless out there — just in our neighborhood. I am heartbroken to see that some are so young. Most people are receptive, some are hostile, some won’t look at me, some talk to themselves, some are in withdrawal, some ask for drugs, some ask for money, one woman asked for underwear, one man was distressed because he needed to use a bathroom, some are panhandling, some are sitting on the sidewalk in a tent or a cardboard box.

At the end of each day, I am physically and emotionally drained. Sometimes it’s hard to deal with reality, but I guarantee that whatever I’m feeling pales in comparison to how these people live every day. And it always leaves me feeling like there is much more work to do.

The community response from the initial story was overwhelming, with lots of people reaching out to privately donate funds and/or goods for this project. How did that inform your decisions about what to buy, how to shop, what to serve, and how best to deliver food and goods to those in need?

I will be eternally grateful to the folks who had the faith to donate, without an idea of who we were, or what we would do with the money. That we included feminine hygiene products and socks seemed to resonate with your readers, so we expanded in that direction.

Due to the virus, we asked for masks, which we included in each package. We included toothpaste and a toothbrush. So many people asked for a second meal, for a friend or relative or themselves, so we rethought the menu and created packages that could easily be two or three meals and easy to eat. We put everything into one paper shopping bag for efficiency. We were able to really stretch each dollar we received.

Being in the restaurant business, we bought unprepared food in bulk as well as containers at a restaurant supply market, and the rest of the items we bought at Costco and a dollar store.

We filled a paper shopping bag with all of these items, at a cost of about 10 bucks per bag.

In personally delivering these grab-n-go bags to people, you received feedback from the recipients. Anything that you’d care to share?

I discovered that people are much less wary if I approach them wearing an apron. Otherwise, I’m just some random tattooed guy walking up, and people can be understandably defensive. But when we get through that initial wariness and the guard drops, most everyone is receptive, happy that someone would give them something without question.

What stays in your mind from this experience? What might you tell other people who may be interested in helping?

What has really stuck in my mind was the last stop. We found a large community of homeless, 20 or more, and were able to give bags to all of them — except one. We were packing up and closing the car door when a young man walked up and asked for a bag. But we had already given out the last one.

My heart dropped — we searched the car and were able to give him a fruit salad, which was meant for someone else, and the rest of the sandwich I was eating for dinner, but I could tell he was disappointed, looking at everyone else smiling, taking things out of their bags. I was devastated and felt I failed him as I couldn’t look him in his eye to tell him we had no more to give.

So, my takeaway is this: whatever it is that we are able do, there is much more work to do. What we did — two full days of shopping and preparing 72 bags, which filled our car — was handed out in one and a half hours. It was over so quickly! What we did was a drop in the ocean. There is a serious problem out there, which has been exacerbated by this pandemic, and I hope that any new relief package includes help for all these people in need.













Previously on EV Grieve:
• Anonymous East Village restaurant owners continue to feed those in need of a meal

• Anonymous East Village restaurant owners distribute meals to neighbors in need

Are you interested in volunteering to help East Village businesses?

The East Village Independent Merchants Association in collaboration with the East Village Community Coalition are seeking volunteers to help local businesses.

Per a tweet yesterday:

COVID-19 and current social unrest have hit the East Village hard, particularly local businesses. We could use your help. Interested in volunteering around the East Village? Sign up here to help out.

Again, that volunteer form is here. (Among other things, the form asks if there are any skills or volunteer interests you would like them to know about, such as painting, carpentry, cooking or teaching.)

By my count, more than 50 East Village storefronts were damaged in recent days from either post-protest vandalism or break-ins — many of them late-night Sunday/early Monday morning.

At Ama Raw Bar, the three-month-old restaurant at 190 Avenue B near 12th Street, someone tried to break down the front door, but was unsuccessful at gaining entrance.


[Photo by Stacie Joy]

Regardless, the Ama team — Will, Harvey and Rita (above) — decided to shut down for now. They had just reopened for take-home food and drinks.

Previously on EV Grieve:
• 2 break-ins on Avenue A: Village Square Pizza, Tompkins Finest Deli & Grill

• Noting another break-in, this time at Rue-B

• The break-in at Khiladi on Avenue B

• Here's the moment of the break-in early this morning at Alphabet City Beer Co.

• A broken window and burglary at C&B Cafe

• More about the damage at B&H Dairy

Anonymous East Village restaurant owners continue to feed those in need of a meal

Text and photos by Stacie Joy

In mid-April, I learned about an East Village family who owns a restaurant, and decided to make meals for people in need around the neighborhood. (You can revisit the post here.)

I was invited back to help and document their efforts during the COVID-19 crisis. At their closed-to-the-public restaurant one recent day, I watched the owners, a married couple, making food boxes for 60 homeless and hungry neighbors.

The meal plan is pan-roasted rosemary chicken, mixed roasted vegetables, fruit salad and a croissant. Pineapple juice, cookies, plastic cutlery, socks and face masks accompany the boxed meal. (Pads and tampons are also available for those who need them.)

This is a team effort: the funds were donated by East Villagers following the publication of the story, the face masks were made and donated by local artist Tine Kindermann, the shopping, prepping and serving of the food by the restauranteur couple. I’m documenting it all, from the shopping at Costco and Jetro, a restaurant supply store, to the cooking and plating.







We load up the couple’s car and head out to feed people on the street. There isn't any shortage of people in need of a meal, and I'm touched by their appreciation of the boxed meals.

After we distribute the last meal, the couple talks about their volunteer work and the reaction to it.

The response to the story about your family’s project of making home-cooked meals and care packages to feed our vulnerable homeless neighbors was overwhelming. How did that reaction impact you?

The feeling of community and camaraderie was truly gratifying. The original point of doing this was just to get food in the belly of hungry people. Putting it on a neighborhood news site for public consumption took it a step further. I am grateful that it brought the plight of the homeless in our neighborhood out into the open so we can talk about it.

A lot of East Villagers subsequently wrote in asking if they could donate to your project, and all told, raised about $1,000. How did you decide what to do with the funds?

Honestly, it was a little overwhelming! We figured if people were inspired enough to donate money out of their own pocket, we should just continue with the same idea.

This is the second time you have attempted this project. What changed from your initial distribution? What worked, what didn’t and what changes might you make for the next round?

Last time we made 24 meals, this time we made 60, which, of course, took a lot longer. We need to work on our efficiency and time management for the next project. We will still make home-cooked meals with fresh ingredients; as this is by far what excites those receiving the meals the most.

One change we would like to make, based on the feedback, is to prepare something that can be more easily split/saved. So if they would like to stretch it into two meals it will hold up nicely.

Can you speak a bit about what the experience was like for you both? Not just the prepping and planning, but the actual delivery of the meals and care packages?

Seeing people in dire need of something as basic as food is highly distressing, and their gratitude takes it to a whole other level for my husband and I. It’s a very humbling experience. Once the person you’re approaching realizes that you are not a threat, but are there to help them...that you actually see them, their guard drops. They often smile and their whole mood changes.

We also noticed that passersby acknowledged what we were doing by saying "thank you" and "God bless." Hopefully having fewer people outside has revealed a problem that we all already knew was there, but has been easy to ignore. It’s not as easy to ignore anymore, and maybe that’s a good thing.

Did anything surprise you? What do you want people to know about the experience?

Encountering so many people in good spirits in the midst of such hardship is always a wonder.

But really? The hard truth is that I am constantly surprised — and disheartened — at the human condition around us. People within arm’s reach with no food, no shelter, no health care, no bathrooms, no dignity... it’s disgraceful. The person that affected me the most on this day was a young man, probably around 20 years old. It was raining, and people were mostly off to the side somewhere, trying to stay dry. They would stay in the shadows until they saw that we were handing out food, and then come out.

He, like the others, started to walk over with his hand outstretched. As he approached, he repeatedly asked if we knew where there was a bathroom. He was visibly upset and was saying "They took the Porta-Potties out of the park, nobody will let me use their bathroom, everything is closed, there is no place to go!" To rob someone of the dignity of access to a bathroom is cruel. It’s dehumanizing. It broke my heart that we had no answer for him.

With their permission, I’d like to note our neighbors who donated to this effort. Ralph Westerhoff, Christine Debany, Esther Kim, Claire Malloy, Danielle Piendak, Jaimie Pham, Julie Irwin, Marissa Briggs, Kate Angus, Joanna Kuflik and Rebekah L. A few requested anonymity, but all have our gratitude.

The couple later set up a third meal distribution, which I'll share in an upcoming post.

A Memorial Day Weekend pizza and mask giveaway on Avenue D

Text and photos by Stacie Joy

If you happened to be on Avenue D yesterday, then you may have been treated to free slices (courtesy of Avenue D Pizza), bottles of water, masks and gloves during a Memorial Day Weekend event for local residents...

















The giveaway was sponsored by Prison to the Streets, Lawyers & Labels, I'm Everywhere and LES Tha 6th Boro.

A rooftop musical salute to frontline workers

Text and photos by Stacie Joy

I'm running late and it’s unclear if, due to rain, this event (on April 29) will be postponed. Billed as a citywide symphonic fanfare to honor courageous frontline workers, musicians Frank London (event co-organizer), Tine Kindermann, Tony Geballe and Thomas Linder are already setup on a rooftop on 12th Street near Avenue C.



I arrive a bit breathless, in part due to running in the rain with my heavy equipment, in part to the six flights of stairs, but also my stress that I will miss the strict 7 p.m. start time.

The 7 p.m. Clap Because We Care starts with the traditional banging of pots and pans and then the swell of clapping and cheering takes over, despite the rain, and the musicians — jokingly referring to themselves as the 6 Feet Apart band — start to play.


[Thomas Linder]


[Tony Geballe]


[Tine Kindermann]

Neighbors clap from their fire escapes, windows, patios and rooftops, and for about 10 minutes or so music fills the air. Here's Frank London on trumpet..



Everything seems quiet and still, and quite relaxed when they put down their instruments. Everyone poses for a socially distant group shot before I pack up my equipment and head back downstairs.

With thanks to Robert Galinsky for helping secure the roof and spreading the word of the event!

The East Village Social Distancing All-Stars

Another local musical tribute to note ... going back to Sunday evening for this ...

Here's EVG regular Daniel Efram with a recap:

Two musicians — a trumpeter and banjo player — started playing music from a fire escape on First Avenue near Ninth Street around 6:45, entertaining a couple of dozen onlookers as traffic slowed to accommodate for the welcome spectacle.

Calling themselves the East Village Social Distancing All-Stars, they played jazz with an old-time vibe: "It Don't Mean A Thing If It Ain't Got That Swing," "When The Saints Come Marching In" and The Star-Spangled Banner" were all dedicated to the Essential Workers ...

Dan has a video clip of this here.

Anonymous East Village restaurant owners distribute meals to neighbors in need

Text and photos by Stacie Joy

“Do we have a plan?” I ask, as I walk in to the restaurant. “Not really,” I am told, “Let’s wing it.” I nod.

I’m at a local restaurant with the family who owns it and wishes to stay anonymous. The family has prepared home-cooked meals for East Village homeless folks and we’re about to set out to feed hot meals to people on the street who may need them.



I’m curious how it will work. I grab my camera as the family loads up their vehicle, puts on masks and gloves (and smiles), and head out.

We stop at several locations around the neighborhood and are successful in getting supplies to people. The pads and tampons are well received especially. I’m touched that they are included in the supply packets offered.



After all the meals and supplies are distributed, I talk with the volunteers about their experience and reasoning behind this undertaking.

What prompted the idea to prepare these meals to feed those most vulnerable in the neighborhood?

My husband and I are local restaurant owners, and although we’ve been doing business in the neighborhood for decades, we have never had so many people come into the restaurant asking for food.

We immediately felt the shift in the air as the talk of shutting down the city seemed inevitable. They deemed us an essential business, but most of the neighborhood around us (temporarily) closed and the streets vacated as people hunkered down to begin their shelter-in-place.

The very first day a woman in need came in crying, unable to get food or medicine for herself or her daughter. She kept repeating over and over and over “...this is terrible, this is terrible, this is terrible.” And the need among those living on the street has only escalated from there. People are scared and confused — and hungry. And, she’s right — it’s terrible.

How did you decide what to make and how best to package it?

We wanted to make a home-cooked meal that was comforting, so we decided on a simple boxed lunch with chicken, rice, roasted carrots, corn muffin and a chocolate brownie. The box made for an easy handoff with minimal contact. And, we threw in a new pair of socks...because clean socks make everybody feel better.



Have you ever done anything like this before?

No, not exactly like this. Over the years whenever we have extra food from catering or fundraisers, we’d donate it to the Catholic Worker on First Street.

What was the experience like? What were some of the reactions you received and how did it affect you?

It felt like a drop in the ocean. I think most were surprised that we were offering a full meal. The mention of chicken and roasted carrots seemed to cause a lot of excitement. Everyone was very grateful. I almost felt ashamed that such a simple gesture could spark such good cheer. It was incredibly humbling.

Do you have any suggestions for others interested in doing something similar?

I really don’t have specific suggestions. Just remember, a small gesture of kindness can go a long way. We just have to follow our hearts and be vigilant in our efforts to help the most vulnerable people in our community. And long term? Please vote. Let’s do better going forward.