NEW YORK (CelebrityAccess) — Following the abrupt closure of the popular Brooklyn bar and concert venue St. Vitus last month due to permitting issues, a GoFundMe campaign has been launched to help raise money for the bar’s employees.
The campaign was launched by Jim Carroll, who says he was a bartender at St. Vitus and seeks to raise money to help replace the lost wages of club employees. Carroll notes that the raised money will not go to the bar and its owners as they seek to re-open the club.
The campaign seeks to raise $25,000 for the cause, which Carroll estimates will cover lost wages and tips for the bar venue’s staff for February and March.
Read Carroll’s full statement here:
“Hello, my name’s Jim Carroll and I work as a bartender at Saint Vitus Bar in Brooklyn. As many of you may know the venue was recently shut down by the Department of Buildings due to circumstances outside of the staff’s control. As the owners try to remedy this and get the establishment open again the bar, door, production and sound staff are left without income for an indefinite period of time,” Carroll wrote in the fundraiser’s pitch.
“The bar staff relies heavily on tips from the patrons that come to the shows and events at the venue. The production staff depend on the doors being open and there being shows and events in general. Unemployment is an option for some but not all. With the venue doors closed we’re left to scramble at an already slow time of the year.
“This goal is a projection of what the staff is losing out on over the month of March and what we’ve already lost in February. A reopening is unclear and will probably go well beyond this point. Whatever is raised will go 100% to the staff (with the exception of any taxes and fees) to help them with rent, bills, and the high cost of living in nyc. This is not to raise money for the bar to get its doors back open. Also, if anyone has any employment/gig opportunities send them our way!”
https://www.gofundme.com/f/saint-vitus-bar-staff-relief-fund