BY JESSICA PARKS
Southern Brooklynites
showed their appreciation for
the city’s essential workers
over the weekend of Aug. 1 by
participating in back-to-back
marches spearheaded by the
area’s state senator.
“It was obviously hot, I understand
if people don’t want
to march in 90-degree heat, but
we had great support from the
community,” said freshman
Sen. Andrew Gounardes. “It
was great to bring the neighborhood
together.”
Some 70 participants joined
the southern Brooklyn legislator
for both “United in
Thanks” marches — in Bay
Ridge on Saturday and Marine
Park on Sunday — during
which elected offi cials and
constituents came together
to extend their gratitude to
the thousands of paramedics,
subway employees, police offi -
cers and delivery workers who
kept the city going through the
months-long shutdown to stem
the spread of the novel coronavirus.
COURIER L 6 IFE, AUGUST 7-13, 2020
“We are out here today to
say a heartfelt thanks to all of
our essential workers in this
community and elsewhere
who really helped power us
through the worst days of the
pandemic,” Gounardes said at
the Aug. 1 march in Bay Ridge.
“We know we are not out of the
woods yet but we want to take
a moment to express our deep
gratitude to them.”
Councilman Justin Brannan
joined Gounardes in leading
the Saturday march down
the Shore Road Promenade
from 80th Street to the American
Veterans Memorial Pier,
where participants congregated
for a vigil. Assemblywoman
Nicole Malliotakis,
who is vying for Staten Island
House Rep. Max Rose’s seat in
November, and State Senate
candidate Vito Bruno, who is
hoping to unseat Gounardes,
also participated in the march.
“It was important for us to
march together as a community
to say thank you to all the
essential workers who helped
keep us safe and healthy in
our homes during some of the
darkest days of the pandemic,”
Brannan said. “We will never
forget how these frontline
workers — my neighbors and
yours — stepped up and made
extraordinary sacrifi ces to
help keep our city running.
During the height of COVID,
all of our essential workers
became fi rst responders. They
are everyday heroes and we
are forever in their debt.”
At the pier, essential workers
spoke of working through
the statewide shutdown and
reminded participants how
important it is to remain vigilant
as the pandemic is not yet
over.
“During the height of the
pandemic, when all fell silent
in this country and in this
Southern Brooklynites marched in Bay Ridge on Saturday and Marine
Park on Sunday to thank essential workers. Brooklyn Paper
great city, all everyone heard
was the roar of our sirens coming
to save them,” said Lieutenant
Anthony Almojera, vice
president of the FDNY EMS
Offi cers Union. “Now they will
hear the outcry of our voices
to remind them that we are
still here, tired and a bit wary,
but when you call, we will still
come.”
On Sunday in Marine Park,
a different group of electeds
— including Assemblywomen
Jaime Williams and Helene
Weinstein and City Comptroller
Scott Stringer — joined
Gounardes in walking the perimeter
of the neighborhood’s
namesake greenspace.
Gounardes credited the
weekend’s peaceful turnouts to
the events’ emphasis on inclusivity.
“We came together to
thank all of the essential workers
— the NYPD, the FDNY,
the doctors, nurses, everyone,”
Gounardes told Brooklyn Paper,
“and we did it in a way that
was not divisive, that was not
you versus me, us versus them,
and I think that made all the
difference.”
‘United in thanks’
Southern Brooklynites honor city’s essential
workers at back-to-back bipartisan marches
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