Minority owned gas station Lindenhurst NY

My name is Tony 

I am African American, and proud owner of
OK Petroleum 540 route 109 Lindenhurst NY 11757. I was born and raised in NY and for as
long as I can remember, my dream has been to own my own business. Through hard work and determination I obtained my first gas station 3 years ago. Competition from big name brand
stations made it nearly impossible for my
business to thrive. As much as it hurt, I
unfortunately had to part with that station in
Jan 2020. Luckily an opportunity arose. The
owner of the station directly adjacent from my first location wanted to retire. My first
intuition was to go lick my wounds from the
first failure, but instead, I gained the courage
to go through with the purchase of my second gas station. This time my investment beared
fruit.  business was good until the unexpected hit. Small businesses are now faced with their greatest opponent we could  have never
foreseen.  The novel pathogen COVID 19,
which is responsible for more then 30,000 deaths in New York. I, like many businesses, have
suffered greatly. We have suffered a 90% cut
in business at the height of the lockdown. At
this current time we still are seeing a 60% loss of revenue year to date. Gas stations make
their profits based on volume, which makes
COVID 19 the perfect storm for failure. Small business owners like myself who invested
there life savings into following there passion servIng there communities. Most of us are
your next door neighbor. A Wise person once
told me, “you won’t appreciate what you have until it’s gone”. We still have a chance to right
the wrongs from our failed federal 
government response pointed at big
corporations, while forcing small business to
close there doors due to no help. Many like me fall through this same loop hole. Go fund me is the answer to the economic help needed to
combat this disparity.  This starts with you!
With your generous donations, we can reach
our funding goal. Which will allow us to keep
our doors open and continue to service our
loyal patrons. Unlike my counter parts, I was
unable to acquire a PPP or an EDL loan. Listen, when we say small mom and pop business we mean it!! We are family owned and operated, and as many of us know, work follows us
home! A closed business, doesn’t mean there
isn’t still work to be done. It’s never been more important then now to support your local
businesses. Please  I cannot emphasize
enough on the impact of shopping local.
Not only does it keep your surrounding
business alive, but it adds equity to the
surrounding areas as well. We are all literally
hanging on by a thread. Please do not hesitate. With your help every, donation can help us to
reach our fundraiser goals. Allowing us to stay in business to service all of our surrounding
communities. Without you as our customer,
we cease to exist. To those who have
supported us., we Thank you with all our
hearts. To those who we have yet to service,
we welcome you with open arms!!