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COURIER LIFE, APRIL 3-9, 2020 17
Gowanus boat club
helps keep small
businesses afl oat
PITCHING IN: Gowanus Dredgers boater Brad Vogel urges
locals to support local businesses. Photo by Owen Foote
BY KEVIN DUGGAN
Members of the Gowanus
Dredgers Canoe
Club have launched a series
of raffl es to support
local entrepreneurs and
artists facing great fi -
nancial loss during the
COVID-19 pandemic.
“We’re really trying
to do something that
keeps both the small
businesses and the arts
afl oat,” said Canoe Club
Captain Brad Vogel.
Earlier this month,
the local paddlers pooled
their resources to buy
$2,000-worth of gift
certifi cates and merchandise
from small
businesses in the neighborhood
in an effort to
immediately divert cash
into the pockets of local
restauranteurs and
retailers. On March 24,
they began raffl ing them
off online, according to
Vogel.
“Making those cash
infusions quickly is important
as we await help
from the government,”
he said.
The group plans to
host three raffl es per
week through April,
each of which will have
a $5 buy-in. From there,
participants can “bid
to win” and the boaters
will send any profi ts to
the local non-profi t Arts
Gowanus, which supports
the neighborhood’s
artist community.
Prizes for the upcoming
auction include a
pair of tickets for a sunset
voyage tour on the
canal with the boat club
and $20 gift certifi cates
to various neighborhood
eateries and watering
holes.
This isn’t the fi rst
time the kayakers have
raised awareness for local
businesses amid the
coronavirus crisis. Two
weeks ago, the group
ventured into the canal
holding up signs urging
Gowanusaurs to support
homegrown enterprise.
They’ve since posted an
online list of businesses
and how to best help
them out.
Vogel said that the
initiatives have drawn
neighbors closer together
during these extraordinary
times.
“It’s been an incredible
response by the
ecosystem here to the
threat,” he said. “If nothing
else, businesses have
made it clear the morale
boost that this gives and
the sense of community.”
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