MESSAGES OF LOVE: WARM HEARTS MESSAGES
ANNOUNCED TO INSPIRE HOPE IN CHINATOWN
ALL IMAGES: DEAN MOSES
Wellington Chen of the Chinatown BID views a quote submitted in the Warm Hearts campaign.
BY DEAN MOSES
Chinatown is aglow with
love, peace, and joy thanks
to messages of warmth
from our readers.
The words provided by
readers in the Warm Hearts
contest provide a glow that
is already inspiring Chinatown
residents and business
merchants alike.
During the worst of the
COVID-19 pandemic, as
business owners were losing
their livelihoods and
residents were losing their
homes, Wellington Chen,
the executive director of
the Chinatown BID, was
striving to find a way to instill
hope in a community
ravaged by an invisible attacker.
With tourism non-existent
and morale in the area
falling to points of severe
depression, Chen teamed
up with Schneps Media to
ask eaders of amNewYork
Metro and its weekly publications
Readers submitted hundreds
of open letters to the
struggling and historically
rich community designed
to remind locals they are
not alone — and perhaps
more importantly — not
forgotten.
“The contest is asking
what would you say to
someone who has not eaten?
What would you say as
a holiday greeting to those
who are losing their jobs?
It will be a message to all
those who have closed to
say hang in there. The message
is to be kind and caring,
be kind to one another,”
Chen said at the contest’s
inception.
Now, as the Big Apple
begins its recovery process,
the winners of the Warm
Hearts contest aim to help
that healing procedure
amidst anti-Asian attacks
and business hardships.
The rise in unprovoked violence
targeting members
of the AAPI community has
only served to underscore
the need for support. Currently
messages of hope
are inspiring passersby
from the electronic display
on the Chinatown information
kiosk between Canal
and Baxter Streets, but will
soon also don large banners
that will hang from
lampposts and dress up vacant
storefronts to remind
those suffering to hang on.
All of their messages of
support will be on public
display to encourage Chinatown
to persist during
the pandemic, and offer
hope for the community’s
rebound.
The Warm Hearts program
is only one way the
Chinatown BID is helping
to bring the neighborhood
back.
Last weekend, the
group held a welcome
back party at the Chinatown
Information Kiosk
between Baxter and Canal
Streets. More than just an
informative center, the kiosk
is a cultural hub, and
on Mother’s Day weekend
it was lit up and pumping
with music, capturing the
hearts of passersby the
likes of which hasn’t been
seen since before the pandemic.
“After 15 months of
being cooped up in quarantine
this is the joy and
sound of music,” Chen
said.
Beneath fluttering banners
reading “Welcome,”
the Barn Vultures—a volunteer
music group from
Connecticut — played
their guitars and bass,
performing original songs
and heartfelt classics.
This moment instantly
captured the neon words
resting atop the Kiosk:
“Joy.”
Schneps Media May 13, 2021 11