6
BROOKLYN WEEKLY, MAY 10, 2020
Kevin Anderson and Steven Cassatelli prep a donation for front
line workers. Photo by Love Conquers Cancer
Grave circumstances
Greenwood Cemetery honchos say rowdy rulebreakers may ruin it for the rest of us. Rhododendrites/Wikimedia Commons
This newspaper is not responsible for typographical errors in ads beyond the cost of the space occupied by the error. All rights reserved. Copyright © 2020 by Brooklyn Courier
Life LLC. The content of this newspaper is protected by Federal copyright law. This newspaper, its advertisements, articles, and photographs may not be reproduced, either in
whole or part, without permission in writing from the publisher except brief portions for purposes of review or commentary consistent with the law. Postmaster, send address
changes to Courier Life, One MetroTech Center North, Third Floor, Brooklyn, NY 11201.
BY BEN VERDE
A team of Brooklynites
have raised thousands to
feed frontline workers, offering
donations to those
on the forefront of the
coronavirus pandemic
— and those in the background.
Love Conquers Cancer
— made up of Kevin
Anderson, a retired fi refi
ghter from Ladder 114
in Sunset Park, and Steven
Cassatelli, an active
Department of Sanitation
worker — has raised
over $25,000 and provided
over a thousand meals for
frontline workers including
direct care providers
in group homes for people
with developmental disabilities.
“Everyones getting the
due respect, the frontline
people, the fi rst responders,
but some of the people
are the forgotten people,”
Anderson said.
Across New York,
group homes like the
Guild have struggled
to cope with the coronavirus,
as residents
and workers fall ill and
management scrambles
to purchase the badly
needed personal protective
equipment. A decade
of budget cuts, combined
with the state not listing
the homes as priority
recipients of protective
equipment has only exacerbated
those struggles.
On May 5, Love Conquers
Cancer delivered
more than 150 meals to
the residence where Denniston
works.
Anderson, a 28-year
veteran of the New York
City Fire Department,
says he felt the need to
go out and help once the
pandemic started, rather
than sit at home.
“We’re sitting at home,
and I just felt helpless
without being out there,”
he said. “I just felt I had to
do something.”
Anderson then coordinated
with Cassatelli, and
in association with Love
Conquers Cancer, they
formed the “Feed Them
First” initiative. After
just three weeks, they’ve
fed 1,500 people.
“They’re unbelievably
grateful — beyond
grateful,” Anderson
said. “Some people even
handed us a couple singles.”
Donations are accepted
via Venmo @loveconquerscancer.
BY BEN VERDE
Managers of Green-
Wood Cemetery are threatening
to close the gates
of the borough’s biggest
burial site because bad-behaving
Brooklynites looking
for open space have
been breaking rules on
the grounds, said the cemetery’s
president.
“The conduct of a small
percentage of our visitors
has created an unacceptable
situation,” wrote Richard
Moylan in an email to
supporters. “If things don’t
change we may be left with
no choice but to close our
gates as many other cemeteries
have done.”
The 182-year-old National
Historic Landmark
has served as a refuge to
cooped up Brooklynites
since New York State instituted
a stay-at-home order
to slow the spread of the
novel coronavirus — yet
visitors had been fl outing
the rules by riding bikes,
walking dogs, climbing
trees, and taking fl owers
off of gravestones.
“None of these actions
is appropriate or permitted,”
said Moylan.
To help make the space
more easily accessible, the
burial ground — which
spreads through Green-
Wood Heights, Sunset
Park, Windsor Terrace,
Kensington, and Borough
Park — had gone so far as
to open up its Kensingtonadjacent
gates to provide
access to those who live far
from the normal Fifth Avenue
entrance.
Yet, Moylan says, some
visitors have abused the
space and disrupted the
“connection to nature”
that the cemetery aims to
provide.
“Green-Wood is a cemetery.
It is an arboretum,
and a place of tranquility,”
Moylan wrote. “It is not a
place of recreation.”
With weather this weekend
projected to reach the
70’s, Green-Wood is expecting
crowds once again and
will be deploying volunteers
as cemetery ambassadors
to make sure rules
are followed. If they continue
to be fl aunted, the
gates may be closed for an
indefi nite period of time,
graveyard offi cials said.
“Our rules are clear on
what is allowed and what
is not,” said Moylan.
Ridge nonprofi t helps
feed frontline workers
Green-Wood Cemetery may close due to rule breakers
link
link
link