‘Bellyful’ gift for NYPD 63rd Precinct
Community Advocate, Dimple Willabus, left front row, and Kemar Blake, CEO, owner Bellyful
Restaurant & Bar, third from left, among staff, handing over containers of food to be
donated. Dimple Willabus
!
"# $
Congressman
Gregory W. Meeks
5th Congressional District of New York
@GregMeeksNYC @GregMeeksNYC @GregMeeksNYC
Caribbean L 8 ife, MAY 22-28, 2020
– Paid for and authorized by Friends for Gregory Meeks –
By Tangerine Clarke
Community advocate Dimple
Willabus, a Guyanese-American,
is volunteering her time to
deliver food to frontline workers
in partnership with local
restaurants, during the ongoing
coronavirus pandemic.
Willabus said she had reached
out to several small business
owners, and recently received
her first set of meals, thanks
to Bellyful Restaurant and Bar,
owner Jamaican Kemar Blake,
who she partnered with to
donate meals to police officers
of the NYPD 63rd Precinct in
Brooklyn.
Blake, a recent Caribbean
Life Impact awardee who uses
personal occasions such as his
birthday and major holidays to
feed the homeless all across
Brooklyn, jumped at the opportunity
to give back, and donated
classic Jamaican food of peas
and rice with veggie, ital stew,
jerk chicken, and fish dinners,
to some of the 50 officers who
have been at the forefront of
the COVID-19 fight.
“It is fulfilling to know that
God has put you in a position
to not just help yourself, but
to extend that help to someone
else,” said Blake who also delivered
food to Flatbush Muse and
Kings Brook Jewish medical
Center.
He and family members
donated meals to the Men’s
Shelter on Rogers and Atlantic
avenues, and Kings Country
Hospital, with dietary options
that everyone appreciated, he
said.
Bellyful Restaurant, located
at 2102 Utica Ave. in Mill
Basin, followed sState recommended
required operating
hours when the coronavirus
pandemic started, but due to
demands, has opened every day
from 11:30 am.
“We never took a day off, we
have been opened every day,”
said Blake who thanked his
dedicated kitchen and front
house staff, who, while practicing
social distancing, have put
their lives on the line to serve
the community.
The restaurant that takes
online orders (bellyfulnyc.
com) closes at 10 pm, Sunday
– Thursday, and 11:30 pm, Friday
and Saturday, a schedule
that will remain in place, until
the full opening of the community.
Willabus also partnered
with Fontanas Restaurant, The
Originals Pizza Inc. to serve
members of the NYPD 71 Precinct
and Mount Sinai Brooklyn,
and collaborated with Victory
Assembly Church of God,
to deliver Fresh Direct boxes
of food donated by office of
Brooklyn Borough President,
Eric Adams, as part of her community
outreach.
“People are stressed and
hurting because of the lost of
family members and friends,
some people are sick at home,
but I am healthy, so I have
to take up the role to help
my community,” said the volunteer,
who is concerned that
food pantries in the community
are closed.
She understands why many
more business owners could
not partner with her initiative
that aimed to ultimately help
small businesses to rebound.
She, however, will continue do
her part, and thanked Bellyful
and others who donated.