Local Painting Company Steps Up To Help Bronx Business Destroyed By Looters
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Businesses across the tri-state area are trying to rebuild after the COVID-19 global pandemic and some, including one electronics store in the Bronx, are also dealing with damage from looters.
H&H Wireless was recently ravaged. Glass cases were hammered open and the store was wiped clean of its products. Owner Alison Jaquez has access to the store's surveillance camera footage from home and watched countless individuals looting his store.
"When I was looking at the camera, I saw everything," Jaquez said in an interview with CBS2's Jenna DeAngelis. "Honestly, I had no words. At the moment, it's really hard."
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When Jaquez saw the group breaking into his store in the middle of the night, he immediately called the police.
"They said they'd send somebody, but I guess they were too busy and never came," said Jaquez.
Two of Jaquez's three stores were destroyed and his Bronx location had already taken a hit since it opened right before the start of the pandemic. The H&H Wireless owner hadn't gotten insurance yet for the new business and estimates he's out $80,000. He's been left with a major mess to clean up and shattered dreams.
"I was going crazy because this is all I worked for," said Jaquez. "My employees, they got families, too."
Another small business in the area, Paintworks & Decorating, is helping Jaquez pick up the pieces.
"My heart goes out to them because we're business owners, too," Paintworks & Decorating's Ryan Ehrlich said.
"I just felt I had to go out there and help," added Paintworks & Decorating's Ricardo Torres.
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Ehrlich, Torres and their team are helping Jaquez by plastering and painting in order to rebuild the H&H Wireless store, saying it brings them happiness.
"We're paying everything out of our own pocket, but recently we started a GoFundMe," said Torres. "We're just trying to bring positivity back to everybody ... Just go out there and help people, help your neighbor, help whoever needs it."
"Get active on your street," Ehrlich said.
Jaquez told CBS2 that the kindness from Torres and Ehrlich means everything to him.
This is the sixth business Paintworks & Decorating has helped so far and they plan on helping more people out. Their GoFundMe page will be used to help as many businesses as possible like H&H Wireless to bounce back.
