Baldwin businesses aid health care heroes

Business owners around town, including the Irish Pub and Sonny’s Canal House, have given back to the “health care heroes” working on the frontlines battling Covid-19 every day.

While many local shops have donated meals to essential workers during the day, Shawn Sabel, the owner of the Irish Pub in Baldwin, thought it was time to give back to the night-shift workers.

“We feel that, like we’ve seen on social media and everything, people have been donating to the day shifts, so we feel like the nighttime shift was the forgotten shift,” Sabel said, “and we wanted to give back to them.”

He and Kate Gallego prepared hundreds of meals, including penne alla vodka, roast beef sliders with melted mozzarella and Hawaiian barbecue with white rice. They drove to Mount Sinai South Nassau hospital at 12:30 a.m. May 1 to deliver the meals. Staff members accepted the donations with welcome arms.

“These food donations mean a tremendous amount to the front-line staff,” said Joe Calderone, spokesman for Mount Sinai South Nassau. “For us, it’s much more than just about the food. The food is terrific, because a lot of our staff are still working very long hours.”

As of last Friday, the hospital had just under 150 Covid-19 patients, Calderone said, and while employees are starting to return to normal operations, it has been taxing on the staff.

“So it really helps lift the spirits of the front-line staff and everyone in the building,” he continued, “just to know that people on the outside are supporting the front-line health care workers and that there’s some recognition of what’s going on inside the hospital.”

Sonny’s Canal House also recognized the work of the doctors and nurses. In conjunction with the charity of the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick, the business donated more than 200 chicken cutlet and turkey sandwiches to the doctors, nurses and other health care workers who were working overtime at Mount Sinai South Nassau on April 26.

For both donation deliveries, each meal had to be individually packaged to be as sanitary as possible.

“Sonny’s Canal House has been a staple of Baldwin and Nassau County for over 100 years, and as the current owners, we try to support as many causes in our own backyard as we can each year,” manager Gareth Moore said. “This pandemic, like hardships our community has faced in the past, creates the need to come together when it matters most. That is why we are proud to work with committed, local organizations such as the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick and Operation Splash to serve our community when possible.”

Sonny’s Canal House has also launched a GoFundMe page to raise funds to support its staff members, many of whom are out of work because of the pandemic.

“Many members of our community depend on jobs at our local small businesses to support their family,” Moore said, “and we are hoping that some members of our community will come together and remember those individuals at this time by sparing a small donation, if at all possible.”

All of the proceeds will benefit families and employees, and “in no way be allocated to any business or ownership expenses,” the GoFundMe page read.

Sonny’s employs up to 25 staff members, depending on the season, many of whom do not qualify for assistance programs. Business owners said they hope the community will come together to help when it is needed most.