My brother Brad is a criminalist at the office of the Chief Medical Examiner of the City of New York. Until recently, his day to day duties had consisted of analyzing samples that were collected from crime scenes. He was also training to become an expert witness on behalf of the City. Unfortunately, due to the pandemic, Brad and his colleagues were pulled from their normal work environment and told that they had to help at the city morgue to process the bodies of the recently deceased victims of COVID-19. Unlike doctors and nurses, my brother and his team do not get to see miracles. They are the ones that have to help families identify the bodies and wheel their bodies out to funeral directors.

It’s a truly thankless job that takes a huge mental and physical toll on those involved. I had heard about how some restaurants had been providing meals to front line workers, and I wanted to try to get something done for my brother and his colleagues. I reached out on social media to see if anyone had any ideas or insight, and within minutes I was contacted by Donald Rosner of Blue Line Deli & Bagels in Huntington, who was eager to help in any way that he could.

Donald is a huge New York Islanders fan, and has been working with Devin Robinson, owner of Yes Men Outfitters (an Islanders themed clothing brand), to help raise money to feed front line doctors and nurses. Devin would print and ship Islanders themed towels (most times through the night with little to no sleep), and he would take all the profits to Donald, who would then get up very early in the morning to make and deliver bagels and breakfast sandwiches to hospitals all around the Island.

Together they raised over $5000 (and counting) to help fund these meals to those who often don’t have the time to get something to eat. Once Donald heard my brother’s story, he couldn’t wait to help. He immediately contacted me for my brother’s information, and he reached out and arranged for hot breakfast to be delivered that Saturday morning.

Needless to say, it was a huge boost to their spirits! The whole team greatly appreciated the breakfast, and their supervisor was very impressed with the generosity. I was told that a commendation letter from the government is going to be sent to Donald and his team for all the charitable work they are doing. I’m just glad that I was able to put someone in contact with my brother to make what would have been another miserable morning a little bit better.

It’s actions such as this which make this whole experience a little bit easier, as we work day to day to return to some sense of normalcy.

Thank you for letting me share my story about my hero, my brother, Brad.