
 
		A total delight! 
 Brooklynites buy meals for hospital workers in Park Slope 
 BY JESSICA PARKS 
 Brooklyn is paying it forward! 
 Healthcare workers patronizing  
 Park Slope’s La Bagel  
 Delight are treated to free  
 meals during the ongoing coronavirus  
 outbreak, as members  
 of the community have  
 begun paying for their food in  
 advance for when doctors and  
 nurses arrive at the eatery. 
 “Yesterday, the line was out  
 of the door. The neighborhood  
 took care of a lot of nurses,”  
 said  co-owner  Frank  Bavaro.  
 “It’s a wonderful thing that  
 people are doing.”  
 The feel-good initiative  
 started when one local dogooder  
 called the Seventh Avenue  
 bagel shop asking to foot  
 the bill for a meal delivery to  
 Methodist Hospital  across  the  
 street. 
  
 COURIER L 22     IFE, APRIL 10-16, 2020 
 Since deliveries to the medical  
 facility are diffi cult,  Bavaro  
 suggested adding money  
 onto a gift card instead — and  
 cashiers would use that to pay  
 for hospital staff’s food orders.   
 “We keep the gift card, and  
 when healthcare workers  
 came in, we would just select  
 the gift card,” Bavaro said.  
 After that initial act of  
 kindness, Park Slopers have  
 been calling into and adding  
 anywhere from $5 to $100 onto  
 the card, which has now been  
 used to purchase dozens of bagels, 
  lunches, and cups of coffee  
 for medical workers on the  
 frontline of the pandemic.  
 “The other day it went up  
 to $900 and then it went down  
 to $400, and then back up to  
 $800,” Bavaro said. “It just  
 took off.” 
 Park Slopers have begun  
 promoting the initiative on  
 various social media accounts,  
 like Facebook and the neighborhood  
 network Nextdoor,  
 offering  locals an easy way  to  
 show their appreciation for the  
 medical professionals. 
 And the kindness hasn’t  
 gone unnoticed, according to  
 Bavaro, who said the nurses  
 and doctors have been very  
 grateful for the support. 
 “They love it, they think it’s  
 great that they are being appreciated  
 and feel great being  
 recognized,” he said. 
 Anyone looking to contribute  
 can call La Bagel Delight at  
 (718) 768-6107.  
 Brooklynites are buying meals at La Bagel Delight for hungry hospital  
 workers amid the coronavirus pandemic.   Google