12 Campaigns to Help Restaurants Rebuild After Sandy

Many of the #ZoneA restaurants that were hit hard by Hurricane Sandy have set up online fundraising campaigns to help with repair costs. Here's an updated guide to how you can directly donate funds to the restaurants and food-related businesses of Red Hook, Dumbo, Long Island City, and the South Street Seaport, online:

Do you know of another online campaign to help restaurants that were damaged by Sandy? Send that information to the tipline.

Home/Made
Location: 293 Van Brunt St., Red Hook
The Campaign: The team behind this Red Hook restaurant set up a Go Fund Me account to help with repairs to the space. This has been a tough year for them: "Inside, we suffered a complete catastrophe. Our basement flooded. Our restaurant flooded. We lost everything. And two weeks after the storm, we are just starting to get power, heat and hot water returned. This, on top of the fact that a fire ravaged our restaurant earlier this spring. It's been a hard, hard year." They hope to raise $50,000. The campaign statement also notes: "...there is no FEMA money for small businesses other than loans, and it's hard to take on more debt and face those payments when you don't know when you'll be able to reopen."

Steve's Authentic Key Lime Pies
Location: 204 Van Dyke Street, Red Hook
The Campaign: Now that the lights are back on, the owners of Steve's are assessing the damage to their facility. From their Go Fund Me campaign: "A lot of basic structural work needs to be done; removing and replacing sheetrock walls, inspection and maintenance of electrical services, re-tiling and painting. We had a tremendous loss of product, literally thousands of pies and the basic materials we use to make them, and thousands in packaging materials was lost."

Red Hook Lobster Pound
Location: 284 Van Brunt Street, Red Hook
The Campaign: The owners of Red Hook Lobster Pound have started a Small Knot account to raise funds to rebuild after Hurricane Sandy. From the campaign page: "The water raced down our main street and flooded The Pound and the commissary with over four feet of water, and there is extensive damage. Two of our vehicles are not functioning, our food truck needs to be totally rebuilt. We had to demolish all the walls, take up the floors, trash the lobster tanks and all our inventory...We are raising this money through a special gift certificate program. For every gift certificate that you buy now, 75% of the purchase price will be yours to use at any of our locations and 25% will go directly to the rebuild." The target amount is $75,000.

Fishmarket
Location: 111 South St, South Street Seaport
The Campaign: This South Street Seaport bar suffered extensive damage from Hurricane Sandy. From the Go Fund Me account, which was established last week: "Over 7 feet of water surged into Fishmarket Restaurant, destroying virtually all the furniture, fixtures and perishables. While friends and neighbors are graciously helping to clean up and start the rebuilding process, Fishmarket still needs substantial funds to reopen the kitchen and buy all new equipment and furniture." The team has raised three percent of their goal.

Alewife
Location: 5-14 51st Avenue, Long Island City
The Campaign: The owners of this Long Island City bar and restaurant started a campaign to to help with their own repairs, and to help others affected by the storm: "We incurred catastrophic damage as the flood levels rose more than 4 feet and breached our space, wiping out our ground level and basement flooring, equipment, refrigeration, tables & chairs, and our food and beverage inventory....We will continue to use Alewife as a drop off point for donations in the coming days and to coordinate supplies to people in need on Staten Island & the Rockaways. In fact, for every donation made to us, we will donate 10% to shelters to help the relief effort." So far, the team has raised $4,645 of their $60,000 goal.

Red Hook Bait & Tackle
Location: 320 Van Brunt Street, Red Hook
The Campaign: This popular Red Hook bar quickly reopened after the storm, but the space sustained significant damage. On their Kickstarter campaign page, owners Barry and Karin O'Meara note: "Most of Red Hook still has no power, no heat, no water. The Bait & Tackle, and everyone else, has been running their recovery effort with generators, quickly dwindling gas supplies, a hope, a prayer and a helluv a lot of community spirit. So we're preparing to (re)Build a Better Bar and community gathering spot. Your pledge will help them redo the electrical, fix the floors, repair the bar and basement and take care of all the amazing taxidermy on the walls. Toast Karin, Barry and the Red Hook spirit and have a 'virtual beer' with them by pledging today." Over 171 people have donated so far.

The Good Fork
Location: 391 Van Brunt St., Red Hook
The Campaign: Owners Sohui Kim and Ben Schneider are trying to raise $50,000 on Go Fund Me to help repair their restaurant in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. From the campaign page: "As many of you know, Super Storm Sandy hit our neighborhood of Red Hook pretty hard. The Good Fork was not spared. Water filled our basement and continued up into our dining room causing incredible damage to our furniture, basement kitchen, equipment, inventory etc." So far, they've raised $41,000.

Acqua
Location: 21 Peck Slip, South Street Seaport
The Campaign: The owners of this South Street Seaport Italian restaurant started a Fundly campaign to raise $20,000 to repair the damage to the space caused by Hurricane Sandy. So far, they're raised $5,200. The campaign page features several photos of the damage inside and outside the restaurant.

Cowgirl Seahorse
Location: 259 Front Street, South Street Seaport
The Campaign: From the restaurant's Go Fund Me page: "8 feet of water came in fast and hard, reaching 5 feet throughout the restaurant, destroying walls, equipment and furnishings, and blowing out windows. We have been blessed with an outpouring of volunteers for the clean-up phase, but we are now tasked with rebuilding with little financial resources and it is still unclear whether or when we will receive any insurance funds." Cowgirl reopened last night for drinks, but the team still needs more funding to get the kitchen back up and running. The goal is $25,000.

Jack from Brooklyn
The Campaign: This brand new Red Hook distillery was hit especially hard by Hurricane Sandy. From the company's Go Fund Me page: "Five feet of seawater swarmed through our distillery, wiping out supplies and equipment and causing long-term damage to our physical plant. We are committed to rebuilding but we need financial assistance to make it through this tough time. We're grateful to everyone for your support and friendship. " The company's goal is to raise $50,000 to rebuild. So far people have donated $4,541.

Fort Defiance
Location: 365 Van Brunt St., Red Hook
The Campaign: This Red Hook is still closed for repairs. Owner St. John Frizell set up a product page on the restaurant's site with Fort Defiance "junk bonds." These are basically gift certificates, where you pay double the actual value. So, if you buy a certificate for $200, you get $100 to spend at the restaurant once it reopens, and the other $100 goes to rebuilding the restaurant. From the restaurant's official site: "Our basement was completely submerged in flood water, and much equipment and inventory was lost. Our insurance company isn't giving us one thin dime, and all the government offers are diaster loans. So we're taking it to you, our friends: please help us rebuild!"

Governor
Location: 15 Main Street, Dumbo
The Campaign: Two weekend ago, the owners of Saxon + Parole and Public donated all of the proceeds from the weekend to this Dumbo restaurant, which experienced significant flooding during the storm. Momofuku is also hosted a $325 lunch to benefit Governor, and Eleven Madison Park is hosting a dinner next week. But the owners also set up a Go Fund Me campaign, where they hope to raise $150,000. So far, fans of the restaurant have donated $37,000.

Restore Red Hook is also raising funds that go directly to the businesses of Red Hook, and the Red Hook Initiative is also collecting for local establishments. Know of another fundraising site where the money goes directly to restaurants? Let us know.