Evelyn's Kitchen: After The Fire

It is hard to wrap my heart and mind around this fire.  For those that know me, there is not much that rattles me.  My superpower is being calm, cool and collected.  And I'm generally pragmatic and solutions oriented. 

But this?   This has me shook.  I honestly thought about quitting.  That is how overwhelming cleaning up after a fire is.   

But instead, I am fighting for my business and my team.   I am proud of what we have built and I love what we do.   And, ironically, today we celebrate 8 years in East Harlem.  Yep.  September 4th, 2010, we moved into our kitchen  on 1st Avenue with so much hope and excitement and optimism.   So today is not the day to quit.  

The road to restoration and reopening is much longer than anticipated and as of now, insurance covers less than a third of the total damage.  Crazy right?  

Insurance covers the (extensive) cleaning from the fire and the damage by the fireman as they put out the fire. 

But as of now,  it does not cover restoration of the space.  So they clean...but no money to rebuild.   Lost wages for our team is not covered.  Loss of business  during this time we are closed is not covered.  Our total loss of inventory is not covered.   And coverage we do have may take weeks to secure.   

As of today, we have been closed for 10 days.  10 days of no income.  Which is crippling to a small business.   

And the harsh reality that I faced today is that we are literally starting over.  Again. 

I am so grateful no one was hurt. I am so grateful to our neighbors in East Harlem who showed so much love and concern.  And I am so grateful for all the texts and phone calls pouring in today asking how to help.  

So, as I listened to council today from women and men much wiser than me  (and they listened to me losing my sh**), I decided once again, I would ask for your support. 

Evelyn's Kitchen needs immediate cash flow to allow us to pay for the restoration, rebuild our inventory and pay our team so they don't have to find other employment as we rebuild.   

8K is the cost to restore the kitchen
5K will cover the lost wages for two weeks for our hourly employees. 
2K is the cost to rebuild the inventory  

I want to open our doors as soon as possible.  I didn't come this far to come this far.   

So here's to Evelyn's Kitchen.  Thank you to everyone who loves us.  Thank you for anything you can do to help.  Thank you in advance for your support.   I am truly grateful.   Lets do this!