Giving thanks at the Mariana Bracetti Plaza

This past Saturday, the proprietors of bar-restaurant the Cabin NYC on Fourth Street, Joey Aponte and his brother, chef Dennis Aponte, paid a surprise visit to the Mariana Bracetti Plaza. 

The brothers, along with local entrepreneur Freaky Frige, donated more than 20 turkeys to the residents here on Third Street between Avenue B and Avenue C. 

The Apontes, who grew up in the Vladek Houses, were planning do to several other surprise turkey drop-offs in other public housing complexes on the LES.

"It feels good to give back to people in need from my neighborhood, the Lower East Side," Frige told EVG contributor Stacie Joy, who shared these photos. "I love my hood."

Another mission to feed those in need in the neighborhood

Text and photos by Stacie Joy 

With a healthy budget this time around ($972 donated entirely from EVG readers) combined with a more focused and streamlined setup, the anonymous restaurateur couple set out to feed and provide clothing and personal-care items to 72 of our neighbors without fixed addresses. 

Shying away from increased media attention, the couple had caught the eye of the local NBC News affiliate, though ultimately deciding to turn down the coverage in order to focus on the mission, which is helping others and not drawing the spotlight onto themselves. 

A lot had been learned from all the previous missions (here, here and here), and a better sense of how to shop, source, and set-up the service had been crafted. 

The family knew where to go and what items might be most needed. They learned how to best approach people, preserving their dignity, and how to best get assistance (harm-reduction supplies like an opioid-overdose-reversal kit) to those who may benefit. 

They learned to ask people what they may want for lunch, to approach it from a service offering rather than forcing food on them.

And with that knowledge a clearer sense of who might not be receptive to the delivering of meals and goods from the vehicle. 

The couple knew who may need some of the special stock of goods kept to the side (dog food, extra pineapple juice and cookies for those with a desire for sugar), women’s clothes and personal-hygiene kits for the women who had approached us, red-faced, before asking for underwear, bras and sanitary pads. 

When this recent day of service was completed, the couple told me they might need to recalibrate, streamline and look in the future for a way to partner with more people in the city and community to help. 

These projects are time-consuming and between planning, sourcing, shopping, prepping, cooking, assembling, packaging and serving it takes a lot out of the team. This run includes a special shout-out to Leslie Feinberg at Subject for baking 72 individually wrapped cookies, to Christopher Pugliese at Tompkins Square Bagels for making bagel chips to accompany the couple’s hummus dip, and EV Loves NYC for the gift of individual hand sanitizers sprays for the personal-care kits. 

Says the couple: "Desperation is increasing, more folks needing food, and are asking for money, food and supplies as more people lose work, their homes. The need is growing, and the situation is only going to increase."

A farewell parade through the East Village for Jack Finelli

On Saturday, friends and family came together to celebrate the life of longtime East Village resident Jack Finelli ... embarking on a tour of his favorite neighborhood places...

Joshua Weeks provided a snapshot of his father's life:

The East Village lost a longtime community member, John Robert ("Jack") Finelli, this past July. Jack was born Jan. 30, 1936, in Jackson Heights, Queens. He moved to the Lower East Side in 1968, where he stayed until September 2018.

With an accounting degree from New York University, Jack helped countless local residents and businesses with their taxes through tough times, including the famous Electric Circus, Whole Earth Bakery and the Theater for the New City. 

A lifelong student of health and spirituality, he traveled to Mexico and studied macrobiotics with pioneer Michio Kushi in 1983, and was known for making tofu in his East Fifth Street walk-up, where he lived for 43 years. Jack was also a lover of acting and music, and contributed to performances and workshops at many theaters and gardens around lower Manhattan. Jack helped produce the 2007 film "To My Great Chagrin" about his longtime friend, comedian Brother Theodore.

He was a beloved member of the De Colores and Campos community gardens, where he remained active until suffering a debilitating stroke in late 2018. Jack passed peacefully in his sleep on July 24, 2020. He is survived by his sister, Judith Finelli-Thomsen and his son, Joshua Weeks.

EVG contributor Stacie Joy shared these photos...

Here are a few more photos courtesy of the De Colores Community Yard & Cultural Center on Eighth Street... including from outside Finelli's longtime apartment building on Fifth Street... 

Friends and neighbors come together to help Chef Lek at Lui's Thai Food

[Photo from early August by Stacie Joy]

East Village resident Pimnapa "Lek" Sunthatkolkarn, the chef/owner of Lui's Thai Food on Fourth Street, was hospitalized late last week. She remains in the hospital in stable condition, per EVG contributor Stacie Joy.

Lek's friends and neighbors have come together and launched a crowdfunding campaign to help her and her family with expenses.

Per the campaign:

Lek, who grew up in Bangkok, has lived in the EV for more than 30 years and previously owned the much loved Thai restaurant, Holy Basil, before opening Lui's Thai Food. At 62 years old, Chef Lek is a powerhouse and a beloved neighbor in the community.

You may find the GoFundMe link here.

The restaurant at 128 E. Fourth St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue remains closed for now...



Previously on EV Grieve:
• A visit to Lui’s Thai Food on 4th Street


[Photo from March 2019]

East Village Loves Queens expands: Meet East Village Loves NYC

East Village Loves Queens continues to expand its operations to serve New Yorkers in need. This past weekend, the local residents who formed the volunteer group announced a new name, East Village Loves NYC, and a broader mission.

Here's part of their message via Instagram:

Four months ago, when this project began, our goal was to provide direct help to Queens, a community hit really bad by the pandemic. We cooked, week after week, and partnered with the amazing @hungrymonknyc to deliver over 30,000 meals to New Yorkers in need. We promised ourselves to continue working and helping our city for as long as we are needed. What we thought would last only a few weeks turned out to be much more than just a temporary project.

Fast forward 15 weeks later, and we are still here, stronger than ever, and now, we’ve got even greater plans for the city we love. Make no mistake, Queens is leaving our name, but not our hearts. Queens will always be part of our DNA, of our history. We will 100% continue helping Queens for as long as we exist!

The idea behind the name change is to show that we are now planning to serve our city as a whole, and not just part of it. Our operation is now larger and with the amazing support of our community, we are dreaming big: dreams of an organization that can lend a helping hand to all communities across the city, whether it is to cook, to paint, or to learn new languages, to play soccer, basketball or to dance together, or simply to be here and listen, when someone needs to share — dreams of a city where togetherness is what matters most.

It’s simple: we want to build bridges.

Friends, we’re EV❤️NYC, and it’s so nice to meet you! We can’t wait to show you what’s next.

This team of East Village volunteers started in late April (as EVG contributor Stacie Joy documented here). Ali Sahin, the owner of C&B Cafe on Seventh Street near Avenue B, donated his space on Mondays for the group to cook its meals for donation ... while there, they were able to prepare up to 800 meals and 100 family-size pantry packs.

By June, they had outgrown the space, and started assembling meals at the Sixth Street Community Center between Avenue B and Avenue C. In addition, the group branched out to supply meals to individuals and families living in the East Village.

And now, they have their sights on NYC.


[Photo from May by Stacie Joy]

Find out more about the group and how to donate at this link. Follow them on Instagram here.

Previously on EV Grieve:
• These East Village residents are helping feed families in Queens during the COVID-19 crisis

• East Village volunteers expand their outreach to feed more neighbors in need

For those who survived remote learning

After three-plus months of remote learning, an East Village family decided to celebrate — and to raise money for local PTAs.

East Village parent Viktoria Krane, who has a 6 and 8 year old, launched Project PTA, offering "I Survived Remote Learning Class of 2020" T-shirts and mugs.

Per the Project PTA site:

This is our side project with an ambitious objective to learn about entrepreneurship, community engagement and applied math. And of course, have fun!

For every purchase, $10 of the sales goes to the buyer's PTA of choice.

You can find Project PTA at this link.

East Village volunteers expand their outreach to feed more neighbors in need

Text and photos by Stacie Joy

A team of East Village residents who recently formed East Village Loves Queens, a volunteer-run mission to help feed our neighbors in Queens, has branched out to also supplying meals to individuals and families in the East Village.

I stopped by to talk with Sasha Allenby, one of the founders, and to see the team’s work at its new location on Sixth Street.

How did it come about that East Village Loves Queens moved from Ali’s kitchen at C&B Cafe on Seventh Street to the Sixth Street Community Center? What’s the operation like at the new location?

We moved to Sixth Street when Ali’s shop was recently vandalized. Howard [Brandstein, executive director] was kind enough to open his doors to us. There is much more space at the Community Center so we can have more volunteers. We could only have a handful of people in C&B and still practice social distancing.

Since we have moved to the center, we have increased our numbers. At C&B we could make a maximum of 800 portions in a day. On a recent Sunday we made 2,000 portions, plus 500 sandwiches! With the extra space we are able to have several different production lines going.

How long do you plan to provide meals for East Village residents?

As long as our fundraising continues, then we will continue the project. We cook on Saturdays for the residents of Queens, and Tuesdays for East Village residents.







How many meals are you making and how often?

For the Hungry Monk project in Queens we make around 2,000-2,500 meals per week. For the East Village residents, we made 350 this [past] week. We made chicken parm with pasta, and summer vegetable pasta. We always try to have both a vegetarian and a meat-based option for local residents.

Where are you getting your supplies from? If folks wish to help, how best can they do that?

Restaurant Depot. However, some supplies are donated by local residents or businesses. Sunny and Annie’s, C&B Café, Kafana, and Tompkins Square Bagels have all donated to us.

If people want to help they can donate at this link or get in touch with us at evlovesqueens@gmail.com if they have any goods or services that they can offer. [East Village Loves Queens has just joined Instagram too.]











Previously on EV Grieve:
These East Village residents are helping feed families in Queens during the COVID-19 crisis

An art collaboration to help support the Sixth Street Community Center

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.