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Article link: Read it at Bowery Boogie here
Originally posted: June 16, 2020 -------- If you’re breathing a sigh of relief that some of your beloved, off-the-grid Chinatown restaurants are still in business, Send Chinatown Love could be to thank. The volunteer-run organization is the brainchild of software engineer and Chinatown resident, Justin McKibben. McKibben, 27, along with 26 core volunteers, have helped raise over $20,000 for seven immigrant-owned Chinese restaurants by building them online platforms to sell gift cards and to receive donations during COVID-19 closures. Last month, McKibben chatted with us over Google Hangs from his hometown in Lubbock, Texas, where he was spending quarantine with his family. Below he shares his top five Chinatown eats, how to problem solve for low-tech businesses and imagining a Manhattan without Chinatown.
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Article link: Read it at NBC News here
Originally posted: May 21, 2020 -------- With nearly 90 percent of Manhattan’s Chinatown restaurants closed, a nonprofit powered by young professionals is building custom webpages for low-tech Chinese restaurants, allowing them to receive electronic donations. Justin McKibben got the idea for his new nonprofit in mid-March, when service companies like Open Table, Help Main Street, and his employer, Square, launched digital gift card initiatives to support local businesses. Article link: Read it at Bon Appetit here
Originally posted: May 20, 2020 -------- "We're focused on really small restaurants in Chinatown that are being forgotten." Justin Mckibben, Send Chinatown Love, New York City: So I’m a software engineer at Square, which makes point of sales (POS) for restaurants and other businesses, and I work on the restaurants team. Around late February, Jack Dorsey, the CEO, held a big meeting because of the impact he was seeing on merchants using Square. We were trying to figure out how we could help small- to medium-size merchants, mainly by creating a donation system and gift cards. Our entire organization moved to doing that. [The China Press]: "公益组织助餐馆设在线服务出售礼品卡 Charity Group Providing Digital Services to Restaurants"4/30/2020
Article link: Read it at The China Press here
Originally posted: April 11, 2020 -------- English (Translated): The severity of the pandemic is spreading to all kinds of industries. And Manhattan Chinatown, among all communities, has been one of the hardest-hit areas. The self-organized charity group called “Send Chinatown Love” recently launched a donation program aims to help restaurants in Chinatown by providing them with digital resources to obtain financial assistance. Send Chinatown Love comments that the mission of the non-profit organization is to help adversely impacted, Chinese-owned businesses through setting up websites and selling gift cards in order to collect donations, in turn increasing the likelihood of survival for many struggling merchants through the period of pandemic. Article link: Read it at Ciaooo! Mag here
Originally posted: April 25, 2020 -------- The initiative is called Send Chinatown Love. Here’s their story. In the midst of the coronavirus, the city so many of us call home is forced to grapple with a new reality. The city that never sleeps is suddenly empty. Its busy streets are now vacant as almost all stores and businesses have closed. While almost all of New York City’s businesses have been affected, one area has been hit the hardest: Chinatown. New York’s once-bustling and vibrant neighborhood famous for its dim sum brunches, steamed pork buns, and big bowls of noodle soups is now a ghost town. |
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