In the hours and days after the sudden collapse of a condo in Surfside, neighboring business owners didn’t immediately think about their rent and the sudden end to their income. They moved to help their neighbors.
Restaurants such as Josh’s Deli prepared and delivered 300 meals to evacuees’ families and first responders. Then they opened their doors on a usual off day and fed more than 100 police officers and rescue workers that sat down for lunch.
Next door, The Carrot delivered platters of food daily to family members awaiting word at the community center. And Mendel’s Backyard Barbecue, a Kosher restaurant one block from the synagogue, offered free Shabbat dinner to anyone impacted by the condo collapse.
LAHH hair salon stopped taking appointments, volunteered to have donations of everything from clothes to phone chargers sent to the store, and the owner and her staff delivered them to survivors and their families.
But now, two weeks after the Champlain Towers South fell, a different kind of reality is starting to take hold of the businesses in the two-block Surfside downtown.
