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Those of us who know Olajuwon know how hard he works and how bright his spirit is. Rain or shine Olajuwon always had a smile on his face and something nice to say to those that passed by his shoe shine stall. After working in the lobby of 275 Battery for close to 30 years, the building decided that the new floor plan did not have space for him so he set up shop on Sansome and California. This was a tough move for him and had a big effect on his bottom line but Olajuwon did what he always does...smiled and continued to work as hard as he always has.
When COVID hit Olajuwon had to shut down and only recently tried to get started back up. Although some of us have returned to work in limited capacity, the foot traffic needed to keep Olajuwon up and running has largely disappeared. I reached out to him this week to check in and learned he had just gotten out of the hospital after having hernia surgery. One of the downsides of his new location is that he has to lift the heavy shine chair onto his platform every day, something he didn't have to do at the old spot, and this constant strain caused a pretty serious hernia in addition to bone spurs in his ankle. On top of all this, a large portion of his stall and platform were stolen one night a few months ago.
He will have to take some additional time to recover but the bills have already piled up and it will be a challenge for him to catch up on back due rent now that he will be out of commission for even longer. I realize this is a lofty goal but this amount will just be enough to get him caught up and make sure he is not evicted. Hopefully we can reach or maybe even exceed this amount.
I was inspired to do this as when I was speaking with Olajuwon he mentioned that during his "time off" he had been soliciting food donations from friends, clients and businesses to help the homeless and hungry in his neighborhood. Olajuwon is always looking out for others so hopefully we can all come together and do the same for him. If you know anyone that knows Olajuwon or that might be able to help please direct them to this page, anything you can contribute would be greatly appreciated!
When COVID hit Olajuwon had to shut down and only recently tried to get started back up. Although some of us have returned to work in limited capacity, the foot traffic needed to keep Olajuwon up and running has largely disappeared. I reached out to him this week to check in and learned he had just gotten out of the hospital after having hernia surgery. One of the downsides of his new location is that he has to lift the heavy shine chair onto his platform every day, something he didn't have to do at the old spot, and this constant strain caused a pretty serious hernia in addition to bone spurs in his ankle. On top of all this, a large portion of his stall and platform were stolen one night a few months ago.
He will have to take some additional time to recover but the bills have already piled up and it will be a challenge for him to catch up on back due rent now that he will be out of commission for even longer. I realize this is a lofty goal but this amount will just be enough to get him caught up and make sure he is not evicted. Hopefully we can reach or maybe even exceed this amount.
I was inspired to do this as when I was speaking with Olajuwon he mentioned that during his "time off" he had been soliciting food donations from friends, clients and businesses to help the homeless and hungry in his neighborhood. Olajuwon is always looking out for others so hopefully we can all come together and do the same for him. If you know anyone that knows Olajuwon or that might be able to help please direct them to this page, anything you can contribute would be greatly appreciated!