
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