Meals for East Flatbush First Responders

Our Goals
Meals for East Flatbush First Responders was created with two goals in mind: 1) Support hospital staff at SUNY Downstate Medical Center (designated a Covid-19 only hospital), Kings County Hospital, and other neighborhood hospitals on the front line of the Covid-19 crisis by providing meals 2) support the local economy by purchasing meals from neighborhood restaurants to be delivered to hospital workers and other Brooklynites in need.

Where will your donations go?
Each and every penny of your donation will go to the small businesses in the community- local, neighborhood restaurants owned and operated by New Yorkers who are working to keep their businesses afloat through the Covid-19 shut-down. We will order from local restaurants in the Flatbush, East Flatbush, Ditmas Park, and Prospect Lefferts Garden area who are able to deliver the meals directly to the hospital.  On average, a meal will cost $10 per person and our goal is to provide 100 meals per delivery.  The meals will be individually packaged for safety and ease. Our goal is to have 1/3 of the delivered meals be plant-based, vegetarian/vegan friendly.

The more money we raise, the more days we are able to provide meals! 

We hope this fundraiser can benefit the hospitals, local restaurants, and community members who have been hurt by the Covid-19 pandemic.  

Thank you,
Debbie,  Aimee, Sarah, Xamayla, Gina, Lori & Jessica


Organizers
Debbie Nikrad

Aimee Afable is Associate Professor of Community Health Sciences at SUNY Downstate School of Public Health.  She is a native New Yorker, living in Brooklyn and passionate about health equity, social justice and food!

Sarah Hughes is a labor union educator and organizer who has lived in Brooklyn for nine years and Flatbush for three.

Gina Shedid works for the NYCDOE as a high school guidance counselor and lives in Flatbush. She is passionate about working with at-risk youth, food, travel, and social justice.

Dr. Lori Hoepner is Assistant Professor of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences at SUNY Downstate School of Public Health. She is a native New Yorker and has lived in the greater Flatbush area of Brooklyn for over a decade. Among the public health issues she advocates for are environmental justice and food security.

Xamayla Rose

Jessica Fields is the organizer of Meals for Methodist and an inspiring factor for Meals for East Flatbush First Responders. 

The Nuts and Bolts:
The way our GoFundMe money process and procedures work GoFundMe collects the money from your generous donations.  GoFundMe transfers the money they’ve received, less a small service fee, into a totally segregated personal bank account belonging to Deborah Nikrad that has been dedicated to this fund raiser. A dedicated and totally segregated credit card in Deborah Nikrad’s' name has been assigned to pay the restaurants for all the meals purchased. Proper restaurant receipts and all other appropriate documentation will be received, reviewed and retained. Deliveries of meals to the hospital will be confirmed.

How it Started
This fundraiser is an outgrowth of a fundraiser started up by Jessica Fields, Soni and Emily. On March 25, Jessica started a GoFundMe with the hope of raising funds to support both local businesses in Park Slope Brooklyn, along with the hospital staff of Methodist Hospital in Park Slope. As Jessica saw the impact, she reached out on social media to see who was interested in starting up new fundraisers to raise money for other hard hit Brooklyn neighborhoods & hospitals in need. Neighborhood message boards brought the Meals for East Flatbush First Responders team together!