24 OCTOBER 29, 2020 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
The Thirsty Koala and Flushing Champions
Martial Arts Supporting Frontline Workers
Each Business Awarded $2,500 in Marketing by Bethpage Federal Credit Union
BY ROBIN KHATSERNOV
This year, as part of its commitment
to the Bethpage Best of the Boro Program
and to small businesses across Queens
during this difficult time, Bethpage
Federal Credit Union organized the Best
Small Business Role Model Giveaway
– offering Bethpage Best of the Boro
winners an opportunity to share how they
have given back during the pandemic to
support first responders, their community
and those in need.
Our editors have chosen two
businesses to feature and each will be
given a $2,500 marketing grant for
any Schneps Media digital or print
properties, including the Queens Courier,
Ridgewood Times, Flushing Times and
Boro Magazine. We spoke with Michael
Ro and Katherine Fuchs, the owners of
the two winning businesses, about their
charity work.
CHAMPIONS MARTIAL ARTS MAKES
FRONTLINE WORKERS’ DAYS A
LITTLE SWEETER
Master Michael Ro, owner and head
instructor at Flushing Champions Martial
Arts, had no choice but to temporarily
close his studio when the pandemic hit
this spring. While he understood that this
was a necessary step to keep his students
safe, he was worried about how he would
pay rent and feed his family with no
source of income. Thankfully, his savings
allowed him to keep the business afloat.
And while having to close down
during the peak of the shutdown was
tough to say the least, Ro knew that
frontline workers were in even more
precarious positions.
“The situation was so bad and I saw
what they were going through and I just
felt their pain," he recalled. "And even
h h I h d i b d I ld ll h h d
Flushing CMA regularly participates
in charity work and puts on fundraisers
for its community, and this moment
presented another major opportunity to
give back. The school decided to team up
with a Flushing-based eatery, Spot Dessert
Bar, to provide sweets to the community
heroes.
“I saw a lot of people giving food, but
as soon as they already have some food,
maybe they want some milk, desserts and
things like that," Ro said. "So, that's where
I kind of came up with the idea.”
He felt that in the spirit of giving, it
only made sense to support another local
business while helping nurses, doctors
and other healthcare staff. The team
began delivering to local health facilities,
but soon realized it would need to gather
more funds to sustain the initiative.
Ro had already been teaching virtual
Tae Kwon Do classes through Zoom since
his facility closed, so he started putting on
fun virtual events for his students—bingo,
pictionary, charades and even magic
shows—while asking for donations from
parents. Flushing CMA then used one
hundred percent of the proceeds towards
its community drive.
Ro and his students reached out to
first responder facilities across Queens,
bringing ice cream, cookies and other
desserts to those who responded. Over
the course of two months, they delivered
to numerous facilities including the 109th
precinct, NYU Winthrop Hospital, FDNY
EMS Station 10, St. Mary’s Children
Hospital, College Point USPS and Mount
Sinai Queens Hospital. They also fed
families of students which had parents in
the healthcare field.
As with all of the center’s community
service projects, the purpose was purely
altruistic.
“W did ’ d hi hi b k
to the frontline workers and
everyone going through tough
times," Ro said. "That was our
goal.”
To learn more about
Flushing Champions Martial
Arts, visit championstkd.com/
stores/martial-arts-of-school-inqueens/
THE THIRSTY KOALA’S
GLUTEN-FREE GIVEAWAY
Like many restaurant
owners at the beginning of
the shutdown, Chef Katherine
Fuchs was facing an uncertain
future. The owner and head chef
of the Australian gluten-free
eatery The Thirsty Koala had to
let her entire front house staff
go to cut costs. She was worried
about when she’d be able to
hire her employees back, and
whether the government would
adequately take care of them. At the same
time, she significantly increased her hours
as well as those of her kitchen staff, relying
on takeout and delivery services to get her
restaurant through the tough period.
While grappling with this new reality,
Fuchs saw the toll that the COVID-19
crisis was taking on first responders and
frontline workers. She had spent nearly 30
years in the FDNY, working as a chief in
the Bronx before her retirement in 2010,
and was also a former paramedic. Her
husband was an active EMS worker and
her son a police officer.
“I knew what they were up against.
I still keep in touch with people who
worked with me," Fuchs said. "They were
beaten down and exhausted and I felt, you
know, ‘why shouldn’t I help them?’”
So she gave back the best way she knew
how. Fuchs and her crew brought The
Thirsty Koala to those on the frontlines
in Queens, cooking up specialties like
Australian skirt steak and gluten-free
pasta onsite and delivering meals as care
packages. After documenting and posting
about a few of her visits on social media,
followers began to send donations to fund
the effort and further energized it.
The team fed numerous FDNY EMS
Stations, the COVID Unit at NewYork
Presbyterian Queens, the Internal
Medicine residents at Flushing Hospital
and the Boys and Girls Club of Queens.
Fuchs not only got joy from helping
those in need, but also from revisiting her
past as a frontline worker.
“I had a lot of fun going because I
reconnected with people who have a lot
of tenure on the job," she said. "It kind
of brought back a little bit of the old and
intermingled with the new—the new
traditions, the new kids that are working
out on the ambulance right now.”
And although she’s retired from the
fire department and EMS, Fuchs sees her
culinary profession as a continuation of
her service to the community.
“I'll never stop giving. As long as I can
give — even when I can't give — I'll figure
out a way to give, because there are people
who are worse shape than I am," she said.
Check out The Thirsty Koala’s menu at
thethirstykoala.com
Flushing Champions Martial Arts
The Thirsty Koala
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